What Are Weather and Climate?

What Are Weather and Climate? — page 1 — 4 WEATHER AND CLIMATE Look outside What is the weather like today Is it sunny or cloudy Is it hot or cold Weather is the daily state of the atmosphere or air in any given place Weather is made up of speciﬁc conditions These include temperature wind speed and direction and precipitation Weather conditions affect the comfort food supply and safety of people in all parts of the world Water that falls to the ground is precipitation Rain is one type of precipitation

What Are Weather and Climate? — page 2 — 5 Climate is not the same as weather Climate is the average of weather conditions in an area over a long period of time Weather can change from day to day or even hour to hour It also changes with the seasons In the winter an area may be cold and snowy but in the summer that same area can be hot and humid Climate does not change so quickly An area’s climate is what the weather is like there most of the time even when it changes with the seasons The seasons have roughly the same conditions from year to year in a particular climate The climate in this location is mostly warm What are some ways that weather affects your daily life THINK ABOUT IT

What Are Weather and Climate? — page 3 — 6 Some aspects of weather are easy to notice You can feel the temperature which is how hot or cold it is outside You can also feel the wind blowing You know when it is raining or snowing too Other weather conditions are not as noticeable These include humidity and air pressure Whether you can feel them or not all of these conditions together make up the weather WHAT CAUSES WEATHER The heat of the Sun causes wind It heats the tropical zone more than polar regions

What Are Weather and Climate? — page 4 — 7 The elements of weather all start with energy from the Sun The Sun heats the air and the water But the energy from the Sun does not reach all parts of Earth equally or at the same time This leads to differences in the weather around the world Which areas of Earth receive the most direct sunlight and which receive the least sunlight The Sun’s rays are more concentrated at the equator COMPARE AND CONTRAST

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