Indigenous culture has developed by regarding all things past and present, including the weather, as interrelated. However, Europeans have generally tried to classify climate more discretely by the:

• geometry of the earth and sun: the ancient Greek scholar Aristotle divides the earth's climate into zones according to the sun's elevation.
• connections between climate and vegetation: Köppen (1918) chooses climate boundaries with a combination of natural landscape features and aspects of the human experience in mind.
• annual water budget: Thornthwaite (1931) groups climates according to precipitation and evaporation.
• processes that cause climate: Strahler (1969) relates climates to the air masses that produce them.

The Bureau of Meteorology classification modifies Köppen's scheme, dividing some Köppen climates, and combining other Köppen climates, in order to better reflect human experience.

Go to a description of the BoM Climate Classification