Lesson 6 Climatographs: Creating Climatographs

How do we create climatographs?

Climatographs can be created by hand or by using a spreadsheet program on a computer. No matter how you create your actual graph, there are a few rules you need to follow.

Always make sure the months of the year are along the x-axis.

D6.6 Months on x-axis

Make sure your average precipitation is measured in mm and place that variable along the left y-axis.

D6.7 Precipitation on the left y-axis

Make sure your average temperature is measured in ˚C and place that variable along the right y-axis.

D6.8 Temperature on the right y-axis

From here, you plot your data for your precipitation to make a bar graph.

D6.9 Precipitation plotted

Then plot your data for your temperature to make a line graph.

D6.10 Temperature plotted

Make sure you title the climatograph with the name of the city and the latitude it is found at. Make sure you also include a legend showing that the bar graph is precipitation and the line graph is temperature.

D6.11 Finished climatograph

Here is a video example of how to create a climatograph using a spreadsheet program. https://adlc.wistia.com/medias/4gxp7c8p3h

Complete the following practice questions to check your understanding of the concept you just learned. Make sure you write complete answers to the practice questions in your notes. After you have checked your answers, make corrections to your responses (where necessary) to study from.

Using the data below, create a climatograph for Fort McMurray, Alberta. You can create your climatograph by hand or on a computer.

Month	Average Precipitation (mm)	Average Temperature (°C)
January	22	–20.7
February	14	–14.8
March	17	–8.2
April	17	3.2
May	33	10.6
June	61	15.1
July	80	17.2
August	67	15.5
September	43	9.5
October	28	3.5
November	25	–7.6
December	24	–17.5

Check your work.

Your climatograph should look similar to the following:

D6.12 Climatograph of Fort McMurray, Alberta