Subject: Features of the climate of Poland

Author: Magdalena Jankun

Target group

Student of the 7th grade of elementary school.

Core curriculum

IX. The natural environment of Poland against the background of Europe: the geographical location of Poland.

Student:

6) presents the main factors shaping the climate of Poland.

Purpose of the lesson

Students describe the climate features in Poland.

Success criteria

• you will tell about the elements of the climate;

• you will analyze the climate maps of Poland;

• discuss the climatic seasons;

• you explain the creation of a mountain wind and sea breeze;

• you describe the variation in the length of the growing season in Poland.

Key competences

• communicating in the mother tongue;

• communicating in a foreign language;

• mathematical competence;

• IT competences;

• learning to learn;

• social and civic competences.

Methods / forms of work

• Working with multimedia and working with the map, poster method.

• Individual work and work in pairs.

Teaching measures

• abstract;

• e‑textbook;

• interactive or traditional board;

• projector;

• tablets / computers;

• physical map of Poland;

• map of Poland – climate;

• geographical atlases.

Lesson plan

Preliminary

1. The teacher gives the subject and the purpose of the lesson and the criteria for success.

2. The teacher asks students what climate prevails in Poland and which elements of the climate are considered the most important. Volunteers or students indicated by the teacher give answers.

Realization

1. The teacher explains what isotherms are. Draws sample isotherms on the board.

2. Students working in pairs search for geographical maps in geographical atlases showing the isotherm system in July and January. They analyze the air temperature distribution and draw conclusions. Selected pairs share their insights on the class forum.

3. Volunteers indicate on the physical map of Poland the warmest and coolest regions of our country during the summer and in winter.

4. Students calculate the annual air temperature amplitude, taking into account the average air temperature of the warmest and coldest month of the year.

5. The teacher explains the issues of average daily temperatures for specific seasons, and then asks students to solve the interactive exercise.

6. Students, working in pairs, analyze the infographic containing information on the length of the growing season in Poland. Volunteers indicate on the physical map regions with the shortest and longest vegetation period. They give reasons for its different length.

7. The teacher explains that the lines on the map that combine the same precipitation sums are called isotics. Students analyze the climate map – distribution of average annual precipitation totals in Poland. They wonder about the cause of the iso‑safe system, and then discuss this issue in the class forum. The student selected by the student indicates on the wall map regions with large and small sums of precipitation. The teacher notices that the time of covering the snow cover is an important element characterizing the climate of Poland. The shortest it stays in north‑western Poland, and the longest in the mountains, in the Suwałki Lake District and the Podlasie Lowland.

8. Students perform an interactive exercise to help you remember the definition of isobars, isotherms and isotherms.

9. Students, working in pairs and using various source materials - such as a geography teaching handbook, e‑textbook, internet resources - perform the following tasks:

• explain what are local winds – the wind and breeze;

• the teacher verifies the information presented by the students and explains the mechanism of formation of both types of wind.

Then they create a poster presenting the information obtained.

10. Students present their work on the class forum.

11. Students perform interactive one‑choice exercises (they call illustrated types of winds) and an interactive exercise ordering knowledge about the winds (they complement gaps in the text).

Summary

1. Students perform an interactive exercise that captures the messages gained during the lesson (they drag out passwords related to the climate of Poland onto the map).

2. The teacher assesses the students' work during the classes, taking into account their activity and individual possibilities.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Features of the Polish climate

Description of climate in a specific location requires describing its main components. The most important components of any climate are average air temperature and total precipitation volume. Of lesser importance are winds, cloudiness, atmospheric pressure, air humidity, occurrence of storms, mists or other weather phenomena. How to characterise the Polish climate, taking all these factors into account?

Average air temperatures are primarily affected by latitude – it affects falling angle of sun rays reaching the Earth’s surface, and therefore general amount of heat. Distance from the sea or the ocean is also very important. Humid marine air accumulates heat slower in comparison to dry inland air. Their temperature is also affected by the surface. Water heats up slower than land, and also loses heat slower. Therefore, at the sea, it is cooler in summer and warmer in winter, in comparison to inland area. Another factor affecting air temperature is absolute altitude. Temperature drops, on average, by 0.6° per 100 m – this is the reason it is usually colder in the mountains than in the lowlands.

On a map, air temperatures are presented by isotherms. They are lines connecting points with identical temperature values. Additionally, for better comprehension, area between isotherms are filled with colours – “warmer” or “colder”.

The following infographic contains information about the vegetative season of plants in Poland.

Humid masses of marine polar air from above the Atlantic Ocean, oncoming from the west, bear essential influence on the amount and intensity of precipitation. They bring significant amounts of steam which condenses or freezes and falls to Earth in the form of rain or snow. In area of Poland, one can notice a dependency of amount of precipitation on local land morphology. The largest volumes of precipitation are recorded over higher terrains – in the mountains, on highlands and the lakelands. Over such areas, air motion may be prevented by hills, being natural obstacles. The lowest volumes, however, occur on flat lands in central Poland, particularly in Kuyavia and Greater Poland. These regions lie in so‑called “precipitation shadow” of the lakelands.

Both the map and the climatic charts display clearly increased precipitation over mountain areas. High terrain obstacles, such as the mountains, not only prevent humid air masses from the movement, but also favour emergence of convection currents. Within this currents, air which heated up at the ground level rises high and suddenly cools down which leads to condensation of steam.

Looking at climatic charts, one also needs to pay attention to annual precipitation distribution in Poland. It is more or less the same all over the country, i.e. summer precipitation is prevalent.

Air temperature difference triggers pressure difference which, in turn, causes air motion – wind.

Apart from winds originating from major barycentres, local winds appear in Poland as well. One of them is , locally called “halny”. It is formed as a result of pressure difference between two sides of a mountain ridge. Mostly, it occurs in the high mountains – the Tatra Mountains or Karkonosze. From the side where the pressure is higher, the air climbs on the slopes (lifts). Next, this air mass rises up and cools down, forming dense cumulus clouds out of condensed steam. Rain falls down, drying up air. Such dry air flows over the mountain chain to the other side where it “slips down” and warms up. Usually, the pressure difference is high which means that warm and dry halny may reach huge speed (often > 100 km/h) and therefore is able to inflict serious damage.

Another local wind is breeze, occurring at the sea. Breezes are formed as a result of the difference of air pressure between land area and water area. Humid air over water changes its temperature more slowly than dry air over land. Therefore, during daylight hours it is warmer over land, and warmed up air rises up, leaving lower pressure below which attracts air from above water. This is a sea breeze (onshore breeze). At night, conditions reverse – it is warmer over water because air above this area cools down more slowly; lower air pressure is formed, attracting air from above land. This is a land breeze (offshore breeze).