Mediterranean climate

A Mediterranean climate is a climate that has dry and mild to hot summers and mild to cool winters with moderate or high rainfall. It occurs in much of the land near the Mediterranean Sea. Outside the Mediterranean, the climate can be found only in rather small areas: in many places that have latitudes between roughly 30° to 45° north and south of the equator.

In the Köppen climate classification, it is split between hot-summer Mediterranean (Csa), warm-summer Mediterranean (Csb) and cool-summer Mediterranean (Csc). Examples of Csa are Rome, Lisbon and Adelaide. Examples of Csb are Porto, Cape Town and San Francisco. Csc occurs only at very high altitudes and very high latitudes.

Location

The Fitzgerald River National Park, in Western Australia, with the dense scrub vegetation and biodiversity of Mediterranean climate zones. There are 62 plant species that are unique to the 3,299 km² (1,274 mi²) park, and a further 48 are rarely found elsewhere.

Besides the Mediterranean Basin, regions that have a Mediterranean climate include the coastal areas of the Western United States to Los Angeles, the Western Cape in South Africa, central Chile, southern Western Australia and the coastal areas of South Australia.

Other websites

• Explanation of Mediterranean Climate Archived 2009-08-05 at the Wayback Machine