Herbs: NOTES ON CLIMATIC ZONES

NOTES ON CLIMATIC ZONES

In this new edition of the herbal, a new field has been added to the description of each herb. This is the Climatic Zone section. A normal world can be assumed to be divided into five climatic zones :- Tropical, Subtropical, Temperate, Cold and Polar. A few notes are below in order to help the GM determine which zone a given section of their world will fall into:

Tropical: the tropical regions are those located close to the equator. They typically have an average annual and monthly temperature of around of over 20C (68F). They also have a tendency to have wet summers and drier winters, as you get towards their boundaries. On Earth the Tropical region may be considered to be approximately 12 north and south of the equator. Papua New Guinea and Peru have tropical climates.

Subtropical: the subtropics typically have anywhere from 4 - 11 months with temperatures of over 20C (68F) with the balance of the year having temperatures of between 10 - 20 C (50 - 68 F). It extends roughly between latitudes 12 - 25. Northern Australia and the Florida Peninsula both fall into this area.

Temperate: the temperate regions are anywhere which has 4 - 12 months with temperatures between 10 - 20 C (50 - 68 F) and the rest of the year is colder. For convenience they can be considered to lie between latitudes of 25 - 45. Southern Europe, the USA and Australia generally fall into this zone.

Cold: A cold region has 1 - 4 months with a temperature of between 10 - 20 C (50 - 68 F) with the rest of the year being colder. It can be considered to fall between 45 - 65 latitude. Canada, the southern half of Alaska and Scandinavia all fall into this region.

Polar: The polar regions have a year round average temperature of less than 10 C (50 F). They lie above latitudes of 65. Greenland, Antarctica, and the most northern reaches of Canada, Russia, and Scandinavia all lie in this zone.

The above is a guide for game purposes only and is not absolutely accurate, geographically speaking. It must also be remembered that other factors, such as elevation above sea level, the location of rain shadows, ocean currents etc, also effect climate. Also, I have limited the number of climatic zones to the ones above, and there are many others. Some of the herbs may be found in a `tropical desert'. Under those circumstances it should be inferred that the herb is found in hot deserts, not that these deserts have `wet summers'.