Köppen Climate Zones
The Köppen-Geiger system is the most widely used way to classify climate types. It uses two or three letters: the first for the broad group (A=tropical, B=arid, C=temperate, D=continental, E=polar), the second for precipitation pattern, the third for summer heat. Click any zone to see US cities in it.
Approximate. We classify each city using its primary station's 30-year monthly normals. Borderline cases between two adjacent zones may be classified differently by other sources. Methodology →
Tropical (A)
Hot and wet year-round. No dry season. In the US: south Florida and US territories.
Hot with a brief dry season but heavy annual rainfall. US: parts of Florida and Hawaii.
Hot with a distinct dry winter season. US: tip of south Florida.
Arid (B)
Hot deserts. Very low rainfall and high summer temperatures. US: Phoenix, Las Vegas, Yuma.
Cold deserts with hot summers but cold winters. US: Great Basin, parts of the high plains.
Hot steppes. Sparse rainfall but more than true desert. US: south Texas, parts of NM.
Cold steppes. Dry, with cold winters. US: high plains, Intermountain West, eastern Washington.
Temperate (C)
Hot humid summers and mild winters. US: Southeast, Gulf Coast, lower Midwest.
Mild summers, cool winters, rain throughout the year. US: Pacific NW coast.
Cool throughout the year, no truly hot months. US: Aleutians, southern Alaska coast.
Hot dry summers, mild wet winters. US: Central Valley California, inland southern California.
Warm (not hot) dry summers, mild wet winters. US: coastal California, southwest Oregon.
Continental (D)
Hot humid summers, cold snowy winters. US: lower Midwest, mid-Atlantic interior.
Warm summers, cold snowy winters. US: upper Midwest, northern New England.
Brief cool summers, severe winters. US: most of interior Alaska.
Continental with a Mediterranean dry-summer pattern. US: Great Basin valleys at altitude.
Continental with dry summer. US: inland Pacific NW, high deserts of California.
Cool summers, dry summer pattern, severe winters. US: mountain ranges of the West.
Continental with a winter dry season. Rare in the US.
Warm-summer continental with a winter dry season. US: rare, mostly high plains.
Subarctic with winter dry season. Rare in the US.