Climatic differences within Central Asia
The whole region has a sharply continental climate, many sunny days, hot summers and aridity, but there are important differences between north and south. So Central Asia is divided into two climatic sub-regions: the Kazakhstan climate in the north and the Turan climate in the south. The Kazakhstan climate belongs to the temperate zone: in winter the Inner Asian anticyclone prevails, so winter is long, severe and snowy, and in summer temperate air stays and precipitation is almost the same as in winter. The Turan climate has subtropical features: winter is relatively mild and wet because of cyclones, summer is long, scorching and very dry, and most annual precipitation falls in winter and spring. The difference is clear in Astana and Dushanbe: in January Astana is about –13°C and Dushanbe about +1°C.
“Two cities”: groups draw a climate diagram (temperature line and precipitation bars by month): one for Astana, one for Tashkent; then tell the class the differences.