What's the Difference Between Climate and Weather?

Weather is the condition of the atmosphere at a particular time or over a short period. Climate, on the other hand, is often described as the average, or the usual weather that an area experiences over a long period of time.

This definition of climate has, however, encouraged the belief that whereas the weather is changeable, the climate is fixed and predictable. But this is a false assumption because any period used to assess climatic averages may turn out to be abnormal.

For instance, many parts of the world experienced considerably higher average temperatures in the period 1931-60 than they had probably had for hundreds of years.

Any definition of climate should allow for long-term changes. It should therefore be a statement of the total weather of a place over a specific period of time.

Furthermore, any description of climate should take account not only of average values, but also of extremes, including the reliability and frequencies of particular climatic features.