ABSTRACT
Weather and climate are among the most significant environmental factors that impact and influence the viability of southern wetland forests. This chapter provides a brief overview of ways to describe and interpret climate and its potential interactions with vegetation. It discusses the synoptic weather types and water budget interpretations of climate, with some additional remarks about implications of extreme events, climatic variability and the potential of long-term climate change. Probably the most enduring regional climatic classification was developed initially in the late 19th century by Wladimer Koppen, a German climatologist and botanist. Within the Koppen climate system, properties of individual locations are described in terms of the annual and seasonal regimes of mean monthly temperatures and precipitation. The analysis and interpretation of daily national weather map patterns of near-surface high and low pressure systems, fronts, and precipitation, are known as synoptic climatology.
