What relationship exists between latitude and climatic patterns?

Answer 1

Take a look at a globe. Look where the higher latitudes (more north and south) are.

Look where the lower latitudes (like, say, the equator) are.

Now, think about what the weather is like in the higher latitudes, and what it's like at the equator.

Answer 2

The most obvious answer is that at greater latitude values (both north and south of the equator), climates are typically colder. Equatorial latitudes are tropical, meaning that they get direct exposure to sunlight, and therefore much warmer. At latitudes further from the equator, sunlight comes in at a more incidental angle, and less energy reaches the surface.

There are other, more localized relationships. The jet streams are rapidly moving air streams in the upper atmosphere, and they have a major role in the movement of air masses and weather systems. The jet streams stay close to certain latitudes as they circle the planet. So locations at latitudes that place them near jet streams are likely to experience more volatile weather. As the jet stream moves small distances to the north and south of those locations, different weather patterns take effect; cold air sits on the polar side of the stream while warmer air occupies the equatorial side. Low-pressure systems, bearing precipitation and wind, typically follow the jet streams, causing places like Seattle, Washington, for example, to experience more rain than other locations along the Pacific coast. However, local geography can have significant effects on weather as well, so latitude is not the only factor that influences the effect of jet streams on a region.

Answer 3

The angle of incidence of the sun's rays at the earth's surface increases from the equator towards polewards(ie towards higher latitudes)
and therefore the amount of heat received on a given area diminishes towards the higher latitudes.Temperature is normally highest in the tropics and lowest in the polar regions(However the tilt of the earth's axis compensates this effect to some extent).Accordingly the weather conditions change in a place influencing the climate of that place.