The Relationship Between Temperature and the Latitude and

The Relationship Between Temperature and the Latitude and Longitude By: Angela Couture Jaime Frade Rita Argelo

Abstract Question: Is there a relationship between temperature and global coordinates? Can latitude and longitude predict the temperature of that location? l Answer: After analysis, latitude is a strong predictor of the temperature. l

l 56 major cities that spanned across the US were chosen l Each year, the daily min temp in January was tallied l A monthly average was computed for each city l This study will concentrate on temperatures collected in the US from 1931 to 1960

Data collection City, State Jan Temp Latitude Longitude Mobile, AL 44 31. 2 88. 5 Montgomery, AL 38 32. 9 86. 8 Phoenix, AZ 35 33. 6 112. 5 Little Rock, AR 31 35. 4 92. 8 Los Angeles, CA 47 34. 3 118. 7 San Francisco, CA 42 38. 4 123. 0 Denver, CO 15 40. 7 105. 3 New Haven, CT 22 41. 7 73. 4 Wilmington, DE 26 40. 5 76. 3 Washington, DC 30 39. 7 77. 5 Each city’s average temp was computed for the month of January l Each city’s coordinates were recorded l

Preliminary Analysis l Identify outliers in the data.

Preliminary Analysis 75+ Jan. Temp- x x 50+ x x 3 x xx 2 x x 25+ xx 22 xx 3 x xx 2 xx xx x x 2 x x x 0+ xx ----+---------+---------+-----+--Latitude 25. 0 30. 0 35. 0 40. 0 45. 0 50. 0 Scatter plot for Latitude 75+ Jan. Tempx x 50+ x x x 2 xxx x 25+ x 22 xx xx x x x 2 - xx x x 0+ x x --+---------+---------+-----+----Longitud 70 80 90 100 110 120 Scatter plot for Longitude

Climate

Cool Illustration

Analysis of Variance The regression equation is Jan. Temp. = 109 - 2. 11 Latitude Predictor Constant Latitude S = 7. 156 Coef SE Coef 108. 728 7. 056 -2. 1096 0. 1794 R-Sq = 71. 9% T 15. 41 -11. 76 P 0. 000 R-Sq(adj) = 71. 4%

Conclusion The temperature and latitude for each U. S. city has a strong negative linear association. l In answer to our original research question, yes, it does appear that latitude is an adequate predictor of temperature in U. S. cities. l