continentality

(climatology) The degree to which a point on the earth's surface is in all respects subject to the influence of a land mass.

In climatology, the extent to which any place on the earth's surface is influenced by a land mass, usually in terms of climate. A continental climate is characterized by a high annual temperature range. Since this increases with latitude, some writers measure continentality by dividing the temperature range by the sine of the latitude.