• With a mandate to study climate variability, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has a number of climate related resources including:
  • The National Climatic Data Center
  • The Climate Diagnostic Center
  • The Climate Prediction Center
  • The Paleoclimatology Program
  • National Snow & Ice Data Center
  • Drought Information Center
    
    
• The Natural Resources Conservation Service's Water and Climate Center provides an online Climate Information Retrieval System that county-specific data on growing season, frost and other agricultural climate information. NRCS also hosts the Snotel Data Network.
  
  
• Types of Climate from educator Peter Northcott provides an overview of a basic classification of climate regions.
  
  
• Köppen Climate Classification uses 5 principal climate types and was developed in the early 1900s by a German botanist and climatologist named Köppen.
  
  
• Climate Monitor Online from the U.K.based Climatic Research Unit includes links to numerous climate resources from around the world.

Each Resource page includes ideas for further inquiry into climate processes and their human dimension.

For example, a topic for pondering or discussion could include how climate influences:

• Vegetation (including types, biomass, distribution)
• Soils (including thickness, stability and nutrients)
• Landforms (including rates of formation and loss)
• Fires (including location, frequency, intensity)

  A related topic for exploration would be how geography can impact regional climate patterns including:

• Precipitation (example: rainshadows on the leeward side of mountains)
• Daily temperature flux (often more extreme in continental regions than coastal zones)
• Seasonal changes and extremes (including temperature and precipitation)
  
  Other general topics for inquiry into climate variability:
  
  
• How much time during the course of a day are you directly impacted by weather events and seasonal climate? How are you indirectly impacted?
  
  
• Are there "microclimates" around your home or school which are warmer or cooler than "normal"?
  
  
• What can we learn about climate variability by observing "microclimates" in our everyday life?