(a) Location or distance from the equator Places located near the equator are hotter as they receive the vertical rays of the sun, e.g., Singapore, whereas places which are situated away from the equator receive the slanting rays of the sun. Hence, they are cooler, e.g., London.

(b) Distance from the sea Places which are located on the coast have a mod­erate climate as they are effected by land and sea breezes. They are neither too hot nor too cold, e.g., Bombay, Madras. Places which are away from the sea influence, like Delhi, Bhopal have an extreme climate. They are too hot in summer and too cold in winter.

(c) Altitude Places located on high altitude are cooler than places located on the plains, e.g., Shimla is cooler than Ludhiana. This is due to the fact that atmosphere gets heated by terrestrial radiation rather than directly by the sun. Hence, the temperature decreases with increasing altitude. The lower layers of atmosphere are denser and have dust particles, water vapor which absorbs the heat. Temperature decreases at the rate of 1°C for 165 m of ascent.

(d) Prevailing winds the places where the prevailing winds are on-shore receive more rainfall than places which are affected by off-shore winds.

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(e) Direction of mountains if the winds blow parallel to the mountain range, then there will be no rainfall, e.g., Aravalies. If the winds are obstructed by the mountains, the windward side of the mountain receives heavy rainfall, e.g., Western Ghats.

(f) Ocean currents Winds blowing over warm currents, pick up more mois­ture and cause heavy rainfall, e.g., Western Europe is influenced by the warm North Atlantic drift and the south Westerlies pick up moisture which cause heavy rainfall. On the other hand, where land areas are affected by the cold currents, they experience less rainfall as the winds blowing above them carry less moisture.