When visiting a friend in Columbus, OH, this winter, you noticed that the temperatures were consistently colder in Columbus than in your home town of Atlantic City, NJ. When you discussed this with your friend, she explained that Columbus is significantly further inland than coastal Atlantic City, while they are still at the same latitude. Why does that explain the difference in weather?

land surfaces heat and cool more rapidly than water surfaces because of the high specific heat of water.

Explanation:

The change is due to the fact that the land surface as compared to the water surface absorbs more amount of heat and can easily release the same amount of heat at much faster rate. While the oceans of the seas have specific heat or water has a heat-retaining capacity like the latent heat it is sensible heat. Thus when coming to Columbus in winters the temperature is colder than the coastal city of Atlanta NJ as the effect of the land and the sea breezes and also temperature extremes are known to be found in the interiors of the continents.