A climograph puts a whole year of climate in one picture. You can read it with the skills from scaled graphs. It shows a place's average temperature and precipitation for each month.
Key idea
On a climograph, the line is the average temperature (read it on the left axis) and the bars are the precipitation (read them on the right axis). The shape tells the climate, and the warm months tell the hemisphere.
Why it works
Two kinds of data with different units share one graph, so each needs its own scale. Putting them together shows how they line up: in a Mediterranean climate, the tallest bars come in the cool months and almost none in the hot months, which tells you summer is the dry season. In the Northern Hemisphere, July is near the warmest; in the Southern Hemisphere, it is near the coldest.
Worked example: Reading the graph
On the climograph above, which months get the most rain, and is it warm or cool then?
- Find the tallest bars: December and January, with November and February close behind.
- Look at the line in those months: the lowest temperatures of the year, about 10 to 14 °C.
Answer: The cool winter months are the wettest.
Worked example: Which hemisphere?
A climograph shows the warmest months in December, January and February. Where is the place?
- Summer comes when the Sun is high.
- December to February is summer only south of the equator.
Answer: In the Southern Hemisphere.
Common mistake
Reading the bars against the temperature scale (or the line against the rain scale). Before you read a value, put your finger on the right axis: °C on the left for the line, mm on the right for the bars. Also, a summer peak in July means the Northern Hemisphere; a peak in January means the Southern.