Howdy, I'm World-building at the moment and I'm trying to figure out how the weather on my continent would impact the culture...So, I'm looking for areas that would be particularly rainy etc but I don't want to completely botch the Science. Any weather pointers (for an Earth-like planet) appreciated, no matter how obvious! Thanks
Particular rainy areas that come to mind - rain forests - san francisco during storm season - my flat ;-)
You're looking for tips on how to build a realistic climate, or for how human culture would realistically adapt to the rainy climate?
Probably more accurate to say I'm building climate - but particularly interested in weather fronts. How geography and weather relate to each other...Anything like that, really
Well, cultures in a rainy climate may build their homes on "stilts" so to speak, to avoid flooding that may accompany a lot of rainfall. Probably strong swimmers. They'd have to adapt their farming techniques to allow for water drainage so that their crops don't die if there's flooding. As for the people, there's two different ways you can go. They'd either mostly live indoors, only going outside occasionally in the rain to do necessary tasks, or they may just embrace the rain and become used to being wet most of the time, so they don't really care. Psychologically, that's a tough one to answer, and I'm nowhere near qualified to do so, so I'll leave that alone.
I think the interaction between oceans/large lakes and weather is really interesting - it's why the UK and BC have such mild climates even though they're quite far north, for example. And rain shadows are important to understand - wet on one side of a mountain range, dry on the other side. Lake effect snow is big where I live - as long as the Great Lakes stay unfrozen, they evaporate moisture into the air that precipitates out as snow on the land near the lakes, so there's often a lot more snow early in the season before the lakes freeze. It's a pretty huge topic, though... you might need to get more specific if you want anything more than random info-bites.
This is great stuff, thank you! I am learning just how huge of a topic this is and I'm not going to attempt to become an expert. This is purely an exercise in 'let's not look as ignorant as I am' But, I now have some great key words to research, so thank you!
"write what you know" is always helpful. If possible, describe a world that is familiar to you, only because you can give it an ambiance that would be original. Fortunately, the world we know is getting smaller thanks to the internet. Base the rest of the world on what you might find here on planet earth, that also gives your reader a way to identify with something that is familiar. We are seeing a change in our climate which is interesting. A change in ocean temperatures affect the weather patterns. Is weather the main focus in your story? In David Eddings Belgariad, when the weather was changed using magic, Belgareth got quite cross because of the upheaval it caused over the rest of the world. Thought that to be a nice touch to remind us not to play around with the weather using magic. So you can allude to certain things regarding the weather. It all depends on how your story world reflects your main theme and how much of that concerns the weather. In The wheel of time, Jordan uses weather to imply that the Dark Lord is breaking the seals of his prison. So how do you want to use weather in your story? Good luck with your story.
Hi Caroline, thanks for your thoughts I see your point, but I'm going to keep Earth as a launching pad and not the whole boundary. Some interesting references/ideas to consider though, thank you. Rach
