continentality

Far from oceans

Continentality is a climate term describing how much a region's weather is influenced by being far from oceans or other large bodies of water.

Areas with high continentality, like central Asia or the American Midwest, experience extreme temperature swings between seasons—scorching summers and brutal winters—because land heats and cools faster than water.

Coastal regions have low continentality, with milder, more moderate temperatures year-round.

climate

temperature range

Extent of heat variation

precipitation · humidity · frost · snowfall · insolation · fluctuation · dryness · windiness · barometric pressure · heat waves

geography

inland

Away from the coast

plateau · steppe · prairie · taiga · tundra · desertification · rain shadow · elevation · topography · Siberia

Opposites
climate influence type

continentalitycoastal climate

Weather moderated by ocean proximity

Family

continent, continents, continental, incontinence, incontinent, contain, contains, contained, containing

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