Costa Rica and Valdez are climatically different in many ways. The most obvious difference can be found in their latitudinal variations, with Costa Rica sitting at 10 degrees North and Valdez at about 57 degrees North. On the Koppen-Geiger scale Costa Rica is labeled as equatorial, while Valdez is labeled as snowy. The climographs show that Costa Rica has a much less variable temperature range than does Valdez, with Costa Rica's temperatures staying between 75 and 80 degrees the entire year. Both areas sea precipitation in high amounts, but Valdez sees vast amounts of snow as a result of its high latitude, proximity to the Chugach mountain range, the Aleutian Low, and polar air masses, while Costa Rica sees much more precipitation than Valdez in the form of rain due to the maritime tropical air masses. As is obvious by the climographs, Costa Rica sees a significant amount more precipitation than Valdez, especially in July, where Valdez sees one of its driest months and Costa Rica sees its wettest month. The equatorial climate of Costa Rica is subject to maritime tropical air masses that are rich with moisture and humidity, exposing Costa Rica to severe hurricane risk, whereas Valdez does not see hurricanes, just large mid-lattitude cyclones. Both areas are affected by some sort of low pressure system, as Valdez sits next to the Aleutian Low and Costa Rica is affected by the ITCZ--a low pressure system created by the meeting of trade winds that moves north in the summer to affect Costa Rica. The ITCZ, and the Aleutian Low, can drop tremendous amounts of precipitation in both Valdez and Costa Rica.
Sources: http://climate.gi.alaska.edu/climate/Climographs/VDZ.html
| http://www.world-climates.com/city-climate-limon-costa-rica-north-america/ |
Both areas are affected by some sort of low pressure system, as Valdez sits next to the Aleutian Low and Costa Rica is affected by the ITCZ--a low pressure system created by the meeting of trade winds that moves north in the summer to affect Costa Rica. The ITCZ, and the Aleutian Low, can drop tremendous amounts of precipitation in both Valdez and Costa Rica.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ITCZ_january-july.png
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