What's the difference between weather and climate? Yes there is a difference.
Weather, as the noun, is defined as the state of the atmosphere at a place and time as regards heat, cloudiness, dryness, sunshine, wind, rain, etc.
Climate is defined as the weather conditions prevailing in an area in general or over a long period.
The key difference is time. Weather is the state of the atmosphere on a day to day or week to week basis. Climate is the state of the atmosphere over years.
The weather fluctuates day to day, week to week and over the course of the year and the last part we use the term seasons.
The climate fluctuates over years, centuries, millennia and longer periods of time in Earth's past. (History is defined as that that humans have recorded. Our best estimate of Earth's past does not include humans for most of it! so describing time in Earth's history is not a good use of terms.) As humans we like to categorize, place like with like in groups. Geologists have done this with time and we describe Earth's past in terms of Eons, Eras, Period, Epoch and Age. Geologists means the study of the Earth: Goe = Earth and ology = study of. (See figure 1)
Climate is defined as the weather conditions prevailing in an area in general or over a long period.
The key difference is time. Weather is the state of the atmosphere on a day to day or week to week basis. Climate is the state of the atmosphere over years.
The weather fluctuates day to day, week to week and over the course of the year and the last part we use the term seasons.
The climate fluctuates over years, centuries, millennia and longer periods of time in Earth's past. (History is defined as that that humans have recorded. Our best estimate of Earth's past does not include humans for most of it! so describing time in Earth's history is not a good use of terms.) As humans we like to categorize, place like with like in groups. Geologists have done this with time and we describe Earth's past in terms of Eons, Eras, Period, Epoch and Age. Geologists means the study of the Earth: Goe = Earth and ology = study of. (See figure 1)
Figure 1. This clock representation shows some of the major units of geological time and definitive events of Earth history.
