Earth Science 7-Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Salt Lake City
Utah, United States of America.
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S state of Utah. It is also known as SLC or Salt Lake. Salt Lake City is located at 40° 45′ 0″ N, 111° 53′ 0″ W [1]. It is part of a larger metropolitan area called the Wasatch Front. It was founded in 1847 by a group of Mormon pioneers headed by Brigham Young. Today it is still the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake city hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics and it is the industrial banking center of the United States.
Elevation: Salt Lake City is at 1299 meters above sea level.[1]
Major body of water: Great Salt Lake . [1]
Contents
Climate
Climate Zone
Salt Lake City is located in a BSk-type climate region. BSk climates are semi-arid and are also known as steppe climates, and they are often in higher areas of elevation. The summers are hot and dry, while the winters are also dry, but cold and sometimes snowy. Salt Lake City often snows in the winter. Other cities in BSk regions are:
- Denver, Colorado
- Boise, Idaho
- Medicine Hat, Canada
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- Earth Science 7-Tehran, Iran
Note: The k is BSk means that that city has at least one month with a low average temperature of under 0°C. [2] [3].
Average Monthly High and Low Temperature (°C) and Rainfall (mm)
High Low Precipitation
January --------------- 4°C ---------------------------------------- -4°C ---------------------------------------- 40.1 mm
February--------------- 7°C --------------------------------------- -1°C ---------------------------------------- 41.4 mm
March ----------------- 12°C --------------------------------------- 3°C ---------------------------------------- 51.3 mm
April-------------------- 16°C --------------------------------------- 6°C ---------------------------------------- 55.4 mm
May -------------------- 21°C -------------------------------------- 11°C ---------------------------------------- 58.7 mm
June -------------------- 28°C ------------------------------------- 16°C ---------------------------------------- 21.3 mm
July -------------------- 32°C -------------------------------------- 19°C ---------------------------------------- 18.0 mm
August ---------------- 31°C -------------------------------------- 19°C ---------------------------------------- 16.3 mm
September------------ 26°C ------------------------------------- 14°C ---------------------------------------- 31.5 mm
October--------------- 18°C --------------------------------------- 8°C ---------------------------------------- 41.9 mm
November------------- 10°C ---------------------------------------- 2°C ---------------------------------------- 41.9 mm
December------------- 4°C ---------------------------------------- -3°C ---------------------------------------- 32.0 mm
Overall Climate
Salt Lake City has an overall dry climate with 4 distinct seasons and hot, dry summers and cold, snowy winters. Salt Lake City features large variations of temperatures between seasons. Also, Salt Lake City usually has regions of high pressure over the city. The Great Salt Lake helps moderate the temperature of the city in the summer and winter because when wind blows over it in the summer the colder lake water cools the winds that blow through, this "lake effect" can help cause rains and snow in both and summer and winter because the air passing over it get more humid with the lake water. In the winter the lake, which never freezes due to its high salt content, heats the winds blowing towards the city, this heats the city but can cause snow. The prevailing winds in the city are mostly south-south-east. Salt Lake City is well inland but is one of the drier climates in the world. Salt Lake City's elevation cause it to be colder there than at sea level in other areas. Mountains are to the East, South and Southwest of the city, and these mountains cause the east side of the city to be wetter than the west side because the mountains block the moisture from getting to the west side. [3]
Geology
Salt Lake city lies in the Salt Lake Valley, which is an ancient lake bed. Therefore Salt Lake city lies on a mass of sedimentary rocks. Most of the rocks consist of sand and clay sediments. There are mountains nearby and there is also minor volcanic activity near the city, so there also are some igneous and metamorphic rocks. The San Andreas Fault is the nearest one to Salt Lake City, and it is an land/ocean transform fault. Salt Lake city is about 605 miles (974 km) away from the San Andreas Fault, which is the boundary between the North American and Pacific Plates. [4]
Bibliography
http://www.slcgov.com/info/area_info/climate.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Lake_City
Links: [1] Salt Lake City, Utah. Map. Google Earth. 2010.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook
References
