Reading a Climate Graph

Climate describes weather patterns over a long period of time.

Climate includes temperature and precipitation.

Climate describes how things usually are.

We have been describing the climate with adjectives like "Hot" or "Wet."

These are qualitative observations.

Scientists will describe the climate with numbers.

They make quantitative observations.

Scientists describe temperature using degrees Celsius.

They describe precipitation using millimeters of rain.

The Title names the location.

The horizontal axis tells us the time.

• This graph uses months.

The vertical axis tells us what is being measured.

• Precipitation in millimeters of rain is on the left vertical axis.

• Temperature in degrees Celsius is on the right vertical axis.

The key tells us what each line means.

Maximum means the highest point on the graph.

We could also say most, greatest, or biggest.

Minimum means the lowest point on the graph.

We could also say least, fewest, or smallest.

A trend is a change over time.

An increasing trend shows the numbers going up.

A decreasing trend shows the numbers going down.

A constant trend shows no change.