What is sub-tropical wet climate, semi-arid climate and semi-tropical continental climate?

Question

What is sub-tropical wet climate, semi-arid climate and semi-tropical continental climate?

I encountered this while reading climate of my state Haryana. (I have no background in environmental science)

Answer 1

The sub-tropics are climatically very variable. Most of this zone is arid or semi-arid, but there are some wet areas. The wet areas also vary considerably. Some of them have quite cold winters where the temperature just manages to keep a few degrees above zero, others keep comfortably above zero.

Sub-tropical wet climates can be found at the northern extremity of the South China Sea in places like Hongkong and Hainan Island, both in southern China. Here you can find classical rainforest not much different from that which exists over most of S.E. Asia, so that would be sub-tropical wet climate.. The climate in elevated areas of tropical Africa and New Guinea also falls into some definitions of sub-tropical (definitions vary a little) and have a similar climate to S.W.China. Further away from the tropics you can still find wet areas, but as I say, the sub-tropics tend to be mostly arid or semi-arid.

Continental subtropics tend to be more arid and have colder winters, while small islands in subtropical areas have a marine climate and tend to be damper and have milder winters. The Canaries are an example. North Island, New Zealand, is subtropical and has a climate similar to the better areas of the Mediterranean. The Sahara desert is mostly subtropical and very arid, but the Atlas mountains in the north are damper. Mountains tend to attract rainfall.

Answer 2

A widely used and truly classical climate zone classification scheme is the Köppen climate classification one. The classification terms you mentioned can be found there.