Climate zones are areas with distinct climate, which occur in east-west direction around the earth, and can be classified using different climatic parameters. Generally, the climate zones are belt-shaped, and circular around the Poles.

An area that has the same climate all over the area, and that climate is different from another area that has a distinctively different climate.

Climate zones are defined by study of the natural vegetation that grows there (or doesn't). The most widely used zones are the ones that Koppen came up with. He determined formulas that used temperature and rainfall distribution to determine the zones, and they correlated closely with vegetation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%B6ppen...

An area that has the same climate all over the area, and that climate is different from another area that has a distinctively different climate.