MEPX
Chapter 1 of 10All chapters
  1. 1Weather against climate
  2. 2The engine
  3. 3Water in the air
  4. 4Forecasting
  5. 5The climate system
  6. 6The greenhouse effect
  7. 7A changing climate
  8. 8Consequences
  9. 9Responses
  10. 10Reading claims about climate

Chapter 1 of 10

Weather against climate

Timescale is the whole distinction.

Two questions

Weather is the state of the atmosphere now and over days. Climate is the distribution of weather over decades: the averages, the extremes and how often each occurs.

  • Climate is what you plan for, weather is what you dress for.
  • A single cold winter is weather, whatever it feels like.

Predictability

Weather is chaotic and useful forecasts run about a week. Climate is statistics of the whole system and can be projected far further, in the same way a casino predicts the year but not the next spin.