What is the difference between weather and climate?

What is the difference between weather and climate?

• A. Weather is long-term patterns; climate is short-term
• B. Weather is long-term; climate is short-term
• C. Weather and climate are the same
• D. Weather is always changing

Answer: (C)

Weather shows the atmosphere’s conditions right now or over a short period—today, this week—like temperature, rain, wind, and humidity. Climate is the long-term pattern of those conditions in a place, based on many years of data, describing what the typical weather is like (averages and ranges) and the kinds of seasons a location tends to have. So weather can change from hour to hour and day to day, while climate tells you what kind of weather to expect on average over a long time. For example, a hot day is weather; the hot summers and rainy seasons a region tends to have over decades describe its climate.

Weather shows the atmosphere’s conditions right now or over a short period—today, this week—like temperature, rain, wind, and humidity. Climate is the long-term pattern of those conditions in a place, based on many years of data, describing what the typical weather is like (averages and ranges) and the kinds of seasons a location tends to have. So weather can change from hour to hour and day to day, while climate tells you what kind of weather to expect on average over a long time. For example, a hot day is weather; the hot summers and rainy seasons a region tends to have over decades describe its climate.