ABSTRACT
Climate helps to shape the character of places and climatic change may alter the character of places. Climate is the average atmospheric conditions at a particular place. During the early twentieth century, the coverage of the spatial distribution of atmospheric variables was sufficient to allow the attempts at the classification of climate, such as that proposed by Wladimir Peter Koppen. The distortions to the some basic climatic zones produce some seven climatic regions, though the exact number varies from one authority to the next. Climatic change is a change in average atmospheric conditions at a particular place or in a particular region. As the general decline in temperature with increasing latitude produces latitudinal climatic zones, so decreasing temperature with increasing elevation produces altitudinal climatic zones. The latitudinal temperature gradient and the general circulation serve to define broad hot, cold, wet and dry zones.
