What this lesson teaches
I can tell weather from climate, name the main climate types, and describe the hazards each brings.
Syllabus K226, Topic 3.1, Key Question 1. What is weather and climate?
Make a guess
In the European heat wave of summer 2003, a study of 16 countries found more than 70,000 extra deaths. Which group made up most of those who died?
- Outdoor workers on farms and building sites.
- Elderly people, many alone in hot flats.
- Tourists from cooler countries who were not used to the heat.
Show the answer
Elderly people, many alone in hot flats.
Older people cope less well with extreme heat, and those living alone may have no one checking on them. Exposure and vulnerability together raised the toll.
A named place with a date or figure, linked to your point, turns a general answer into a developed one.
This lesson collects the 5 named examples from the lessons in this chapter, so you can revise them in one place. Each one is also a recall card below, so you can save the whole set and review it before an exam.
Climatic hazards and their impacts: Heat wave: Europe, summer 2003; Drought: Somalia, 2010 to 2012; Flood: Pakistan, 2022; Tropical cyclone: Typhoon Haiyan, Philippines, 2013; Wildfire: Australia's Black Summer, 2019 to 2020.
To use a case, name the place or organisation, give its date or a figure, then say what it shows about the question. One developed case earns more than a list of names.
- Heat wave: Europe, summer 2003
- A study of 16 countries found more than 70,000 extra deaths across Europe that summer. Most of those who died were elderly, many living alone in hot flats.
- Drought: Somalia, 2010 to 2012
- Failed rains and high food prices led to famine. A study for the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization and FEWS NET estimated about 258,000 deaths, half of them children under five.
- Flood: Pakistan, 2022
- Extreme monsoon rain flooded about a third of the country, killed about 1,700 people and affected 33 million.
- Tropical cyclone: Typhoon Haiyan, Philippines, 2013
- It was one of the strongest storms ever recorded at landfall. Its storm surge and winds killed over 6,000 people.
- Wildfire: Australia's Black Summer, 2019 to 2020
- After a record hot, dry year, bushfires killed 33 people directly and destroyed more than 3,000 homes. Nearly three billion animals were killed or displaced.
Step by step
Name it
The place, event or organisation.
Prove it
A date, number or specific fact.
Link it
Say what it shows about the question.
Worked example: From a name to a developed point
Weak: "There are real examples, such as Heat wave: Europe, summer 2003." Strong: "A study of 16 countries found more than 70,000 extra deaths across Europe that summer. Most of those who died were elderly, many living alone in hot flats." The strong version gives the place and the evidence, so it can earn a development mark.
Watch out for this
Naming a famous example is enough to earn the mark.
Examiners credit a developed case: a place, a date or figure, and a clear link to the question.
Check your understanding
Which is the strongest way to use a named example in an answer?
- List several example names, with no details.
- Give the place, a date or figure, and its link.
- Describe the example in general terms, without a place or figure.
Show the answer
Give the place, a date or figure, and its link.
Yes. A located, evidenced and linked case is what earns development marks.