What a Dwa climate is like
Dwa Hot-summer continental with dry winter. A monsoon-influenced continental climate. Winters are cold and dry, and the summer is hot and brings most of the year's rain.
The rules behind the code, in plain English:
- Cold (coldest month at or below 0 °C).
- Dry winter: the driest winter month gets less than a tenth of the rain of the wettest summer month.
- Hot summer: the warmest month averages 22 °C or more.
Dataset wording: "Cold, dry winter, hot summer". In the maps of Beck et al. (2023) the class is written: D: Not B and Thot > 10 and Tcold <= 0; w: Pwdry < Pswet/10; a: Thot >= 22.
Hot-summer continental climate with a dry winter has hot, wet summers and cold, dry winters. The rain arrives with the summer heat, then the winter turns cold and clear with little snow. Maize, soya beans and wheat grow well in the warm season. Homes are built for hard frost in winter and for heat and humidity in summer, so people need clothes for both ends of the scale.
How much of the world is Dwa?
- 0.8%of the world's land outside Antarctica, 1991 to 2020
- 1,069,041 km²area, 1991 to 2020
- 515cities of 15,000 or more people (GeoNames) have this climate now
In 1901 to 1930 it covered 0.8% of that land, so its area then was 6.55% larger than in 1991 to 2020.
How the Dwa area is projected to change by 2071 to 2099
These figures compare the area of Dwa in each future map with 1991 to 2020. They come from the Beck et al. (2023) model projections under three emissions scenarios. They show what the scenarios imply, not what will happen.
| Map | Share of land | Change in area vs 1991 to 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| 1901 to 1930 (past) | 0.8% | +6.55% |
| 1991 to 2020 (now) | 0.8% | - |
| 2071 to 2099, SSP1-2.6 (low emissions) | 1.1% | +42.74% |
| 2071 to 2099, SSP2-4.5 (middle of the road) | 1.3% | +63.19% |
| 2071 to 2099, SSP5-8.5 (high emissions) | 1.8% | +120.46% |
Shares are of land outside Antarctica. A negative change means the zone shrinks.
What happens to today's Dwa land
Of the land that is Dwa in 1991 to 2020, this is how much stays Dwa and where the rest ends up in 2071 to 2099, by scenario:
| Scenario (2071 to 2099) | Stays Dwa | Where the rest goes (biggest first) |
|---|---|---|
| SSP1-2.6, low emissions | 80% | Cwa (16%), Dfa (2.9%), BSk (1.1%) |
| SSP2-4.5, middle of the road | 73% | Cwa (22%), BSk (3.1%), Dfa (2.4%) |
| SSP5-8.5, high emissions | 61% | Cwa (31%), BSk (7.5%), Dfa (0.7%) |
Looking back, 79% of today's Dwa land was also Dwa in 1901 to 1930. The rest was Dwb (15%), Dfa (4.9%), BSk (0.9%), Dfb (0.7%).
Where Dwa is found
The countries with the most Dwa land in 1991 to 2020:
| Country | Area | Share of all Dwa | Share of the country |
|---|---|---|---|
| China | 884,546 km² | 83% | 9.4% |
| North Korea | 61,334 km² | 5.7% | 50% |
| South Korea | 57,296 km² | 5.4% | 59% |
| United States | 39,859 km² | 3.7% | 0.4% |
| Russia | 23,240 km² | 2.2% | 0.1% |
Places with a Dwa climate today
The biggest cities in the 1991 to 2020 map that sit in Dwa (at most two per country):
Other cold (continental) climates (group D)
- Dsa Hot-summer continental with dry summer
- Dsb Warm-summer continental with dry summer
- Dsc Subarctic with dry summer
- Dsd Subarctic with dry summer and very cold winter
- Dwb Warm-summer continental with dry winter
- Dwc Subarctic with dry winter
- Dwd Subarctic with dry winter and very cold winter
- Dfa Hot-summer humid continental
- Dfb Warm-summer humid continental
- Dfc Subarctic (boreal)
- Dfd Subarctic with very cold winter
- All 30 zones
Frequently asked questions
What does Dwa mean in the Köppen climate classification?
Cold (coldest month at or below 0 °C). Dry winter: the driest winter month gets less than a tenth of the rain of the wettest summer month. Hot summer: the warmest month averages 22 °C or more. The code is a short way of writing that: the first letter is the major group (D, cold (continental)) and the letters after it say more about rain and temperature.
What is a hot-summer continental with dry winter climate like?
Hot, wet summers and cold, dry winters. A monsoon-influenced continental climate. Winters are cold and dry, and the summer is hot and brings most of the year's rain.
How much of the world has a Dwa climate?
0.8% of the world's land outside Antarctica was Dwa in 1991 to 2020, about 1,069,041 km² (Beck et al. 2023, 1 km maps).
Will the Dwa climate zone grow or shrink?
Under the middle-of-the-road scenario (SSP2-4.5), the area of Dwa in 2071 to 2099 is 63.19% larger than in 1991 to 2020. This is a model projection, not a forecast, and it differs under other scenarios (see the table on this page).
Data: Beck et al. (2023), CC BY 4.0. See data sources and licences. Köppen-Geiger classes describe long-term averages, not weather.