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To best understand what Utah looks like, we need to understand Utah's regions, and Utah's climates. There are 3 regions and 3 climates, so it's easy to remember. The regions are how we divide Utah up into smaller, geographical areas, and the climates are related to the weather that can be expected in different parts of Utah.
There is a lot of information here, so if you need 2 days to go over it all, that's okay.
Read over the following information.
Utah has 3 regions.
The Great Basin- Basin is another word for bowl. The important thing to remember with the Great Basin Region is that any water the falls or flows into the region does not flow out. The only way water gets out of the Great Basin Region is through evaporation. You'll notice that the Great Salt Lake is in the Great Basin Region, the reason the Great Salt Lake is so salty is that water only flows into it, and the only way water leaves the lake is through evaporation- leaving all of the sediment (salt) behind.
The Colorado Plateau contains all of Utah's national parks. You can review those national parks on the page about Utah's Geological past.
The Rocky Mountain Region covers the most mountainous areas of the state.
Look over the following image. Make sure to notice where each of the regions are. Make sure you can identify them on a map in the future.
Source: 2019 Gibbs Smith Education | The Utah Journey
What is Climate?
Climate is the long-term weather conditions of a certain area. In other words, it's what you can expect certain areas' weather to be like. For example, in desert climates, you can expect it to be hot in the summer time, and you can expect there to be VERY little rain/snow fall throughout the year. Think about where you live, think about what the weather is like in the summer, now think about what it's like in the winter. What you think of when it comes to the typical weather conditions is the climate for the area that you live in. It's important to understand that climate is the USUAL weather conditions, not the guaranteed weather conditions. For example, are there cool days sometimes in the summer? Yes. Can it snow in the spring? Yes. Can there be a warm day in winter? Yes. Climate is just the big picture of how the weather USUALLY acts in an area.
Click on either of the images to see the original documents they came from, both produced by the Global Monitoring Laboratory, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Contrary to what people think of Utah, it is not all a desert. Granted, large parts of it are deserts, but not all of it.
Utah also has 3 climates.
Desert: very little precipitation (rain/snow fall)
Highland: the higher elevation areas of the state. Lots of snow and cold temperatures in the winter, and cooler summers. Due to the amount of snow in the winter, the highland climate of Utah provides much of the water to the northern half of the state throughout the year, as the snow melts, then collects in reservoirs.
Steppe: hot, dry summers and cold winters are characteristic of steppe climates. There is some precipitation, but not as much as the highland climates. Typically, you can think of mountain valleys, grasslands, and heavily populated areas to remember where the steppe areas of the state are (most of Utah's large cities are in steppe climates).
Look at the pie chart below, it shows what percentage of Utah is made up of the 3 different climates. Make sure to know which climate is the largest, which is second largest, and which is the smallest of the three.
There are a lot of factors that determine a locations weather/climate. As you'll see below, elevation is a big factor of climate here in Utah, but it not the only factor!
Look through the images below. Scroll through the images on the left as you compare them to the image on the right. Notice any correlations (similarities) in the maps.
Images gathered from usu.edu
These images show different aspects of Utah's climates. See the keys at the bottom of the images .
Source: maps.google.com
This Image shows Utah's topography (changes in elevation). The green parts are higher elevation.
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