Mediterranean climate
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- American Meteorological Society - Journal of Climate - Climate Variability and Change of Mediterranean-Type Climates
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- Unversity of California - eScholarship - Ecology and Management of Annual Rangelands Series: Mediterranean Climate (PDF)
- Frontiers - Fire and Plant Diversification in Mediterranean-Climate Regions
- CiteSeerX - Three Conflated Definitions of Mediterranean Climates
- CORE - A zero energy concept building for the Mediterranean climate (PDF)
- Iowa State University - The Mediterranean Climate
- The Spruce - Characteristics of Mediterranean Climates and Gardens
- National Center for Biotechnology Information - Lessons from Mediterranean-Climate Regions
- Nature - Scientific Reports - Identification of climate change hotspots in the Mediterranean
- Mediterranean Garden Society - What is a mediterranean climate?
- Columbia University - Mediterranean precipitation climatology, seasonal cycle, and trend as simulated by CMIP5 (PDF)
Mediterranean climate, majorclimate type of theKöppen classificationcharacterized by hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters and located between about 30° and 45° latitude north and south of theEquator and on the western sides of thecontinents. In the Köppen-Geiger-Pohl system, it is divided into theCsa andCsb subtypes.
Poleward extension and expansion of thesubtropical anticyclone over theoceans bring subsidingair to the region in summer, with clear skies and high temperatures. When the anticyclone moves Equator-ward in winter, it is replaced by traveling, frontalcyclones with their attendantprecipitation. Annualtemperature ranges are generally smaller than those found inmarine west coast climates, since locations on the western sides of continents are not well positioned to receive the coldest polar air, which develops over land rather than over theocean. Mediterranean climates also tend to be drier than humid subtropical ones, with precipitation totals ranging from 35 to 90 cm (14 to 35 inches); the lowest amounts occur in interior regionsadjacent to thesemiarid steppe climates.
- Related Topics:
- Csb climate
- type C climate
- Csa climate
- On the Web:
- CORE - A zero energy concept building for the Mediterranean climate (PDF) (Sep. 27, 2025)
Some coastal locations (such as southernCalifornia in the western United States) exhibit relatively cool summer conditions and frequentfogs where cold offshore currents prevail. Only inEurope, where the latitude for this climate type fortuitously corresponds to anocean basin (that of theMediterranean Sea, from which this climate derives its name), does this climate type extend eastward away from the coast for any significant distance.
| letter symbol | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | criterion |
| 1In the formulas above,r is average annual precipitation total (mm), andt is average annual temperature (°C). All other temperatures are monthly means (°C), and all other precipitation amounts are mean monthly totals (mm). | |||
| 2Any climate that satisfies the criteria for designation as a B type is classified as such, irrespective of its other characteristics. | |||
| 3The summer half of the year is defined as the months April–September for the Northern Hemisphere and October–March for the Southern Hemisphere. | |||
| 4Most modern climate schemes consider the role of altitude. The highland zone has been taken from G.T. Trewartha,An Introduction to Climate, 4th ed. (1968). | |||
| Data Sources: Adapted from Howard J. Critchfield,General Climatology, 4th ed. (1983), and M.C. Peel, B.L. Finlayson, and T.A. McMahon, "Updated World Map of the Köppen-Geiger Climate Classification,"Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 11:1633–44 (2007). | |||
| A | temperature of coolest month 18 °C or higher | ||
| f | precipitation in driest month at least 60 mm | ||
| m | precipitation in driest month less than 60 mm but equal to or greater than 100 – (r/25)1 | ||
| w | precipitation in driest month less than 60 mm and less than 100 – (r/25) | ||
| B2 | 70% or more of annual precipitation falls in the summer half of the year andr less than 20t + 280, or 70% or more of annual precipitation falls in the winter half of the year andr less than 20t, or neither half of the year has 70% or more of annual precipitation andr less than 20t + 1403 | ||
| W | r is less than one-half of the upper limit for classification as a B type (see above) | ||
| S | r is less than the upper limit for classification as a B type but is more than one-half of that amount | ||
| h | t equal to or greater than 18 °C | ||
| k | t less than 18 °C | ||
| C | temperature of warmest month greater than or equal to 10 °C, and temperature of coldest month less than 18 °C but greater than –3 °C | ||
| s | precipitation in driest month of summer half of the year is less than 30 mm and less than one-third of the wettest month of the winter half | ||
| w | precipitation in driest month of the winter half of the year less than one-tenth of the amount in the wettest month of the summer half | ||
| f | precipitation more evenly distributed throughout year; criteria for neither s nor w satisfied | ||
| a | temperature of warmest month 22 °C or above | ||
| b | temperature of each of four warmest months 10 °C or above but warmest month less than 22 °C | ||
| c | temperature of one to three months 10 °C or above but warmest month less than 22 °C | ||
| D | temperature of warmest month greater than or equal to 10 °C, and temperature of coldest month –3 °C or lower | ||
| s | same as for type C | ||
| w | same as for type C | ||
| f | same as for type C | ||
| a | same as for type C | ||
| b | same as for type C | ||
| c | same as for type C | ||
| d | temperature of coldest month less than –38 °C (d designation then used instead of a, b, or c) | ||
| E | temperature of warmest month less than 10 °C | ||
| T | temperature of warmest month greater than 0 °C but less than 10 °C | ||
| F | temperature of warmest month 0 °C or below | ||
| H4 | temperature and precipitation characteristics highly dependent on traits of adjacent zones and overall elevation—highland climates may occur at any latitude | ||