Weather vs Climate
Distinguish between weather and climate: weather is what the atmosphere is doing right now or today (it can change hour to hour), while climate is the typical pattern of weather in a place over many years
What a learner can do afterwards
- Define weather as short-term atmospheric conditions
- Define climate as the long-term pattern of weather in a place
- Give an example showing the difference: a cold day doesn't change the overall climate
1 · Read
Weather is what the sky and air are doing right now or today. Is it sunny, rainy, windy, or snowy? Weather can change fast, sometimes even from morning to afternoon.
Mia's desert town usually gets little rain. One day, heavy rain wets the streets. That is the weather for that day. The town still has a dry climate. One rainy day does not show that its pattern over many years has changed.
Climate is a place's usual weather pattern over many years. It includes seasonal changes, such as rainy winters and dry summers. Scientists use many years of weather records to study climate. To check for change, they compare earlier and recent long-term patterns. One cold morning cannot show that a town's climate has become colder.
Weather describes the sky and air today. Climate describes usual weather patterns, including seasons, over many years.
The reading about weather records and climate patterns was written for this dataset.
More to read
Reading a weather record
Today's temperature and rain tell you about weather. Records from many years can show climate.
Imagine a town with rainy winters and dry summers. A rainy summer day can happen there. That day does not erase the seasonal pattern found across many years.
To check whether the pattern is changing, scientists compare earlier and recent long periods of records. They look for changes in usual temperatures and rainfall. One hot day or cold morning cannot answer that question alone.
Climate includes seasonal patterns. It does not mean every day in a place has the same weather.
2 · Watch
Take it off screen
Where it sits
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.