Weather and Climate

Weather means the atmospheric change which takes place within a short period and climate takes a long period to change. Let’s study them in detail in this article:

Weather is nothing but an atmospheric condition like snow, wind, air, or something which is happening outside. People usually talk about the weather when they have nothing to talk about. Weather is an atmospheric condition that tends to change within a short period. The experts everyday predict the weather how it’s going to be. Whether it’s going to rain today or it’s going to be sunny the whole day.  

Climate is nothing but the average of the weather which is going to last for a long period. Climate is a study that is going to last for a long period in a specific area. Climate can be also defined as a statistical study of weather information that is concerned with the study of variation taking place in the atmosphere at a particular area for a long period.

Weather can change anytime, it can change within minutes, it can change within hours, or sometimes it can take a season to change. Anything can happen in the case of weather, it will not be fixed. However, the climate is the average of the weather which is going to last for a long period in a specific area. Let’s discuss them in detail to understand their difference:

Difference between Weather and Climate

1. Definition

Weather Describes the weather conditions in a certain location at a specific time. The term “weather” refers to the temperature and precipitation patterns that occur daily.

Climate Describes the predicted average circumstances at a certain location at a specified time. The climate system, which consists of five components: the hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, land surface, and cryosphere, determines the climate of an area.

2. Components

There are many components in weather like Rain, wind, sunshine, snow, sleet, snow, flooding, ice storms, blizzards, thunderstorms, heat waves, excessive heat, and many more components.

Climate has many components which may include temperature, precipitation, wind velocity, sunshine, humidity, and some phenomena like hail storms, frost, and fog which will last for a long period.

 3. Forecast

Forecasting of weather is done By gathering weather data such as air humidity, temperature, pressure, direction, wind speed and solar radiation, and so on. With the study of all these the weather forecast is given.

In the case of climate, forecasting of climate is done or the forecast of climate is given By combining weather data from the last 30 years. After a detailed study of data over the years, the forecast of climate is given.

4. Determining factor

Many factors determine the weather. Some of them are humidity, cloud cover, precipitation, atmospheric pressure, wind speed and direction, and other variables.

There are usually no determining factors for climate because the climate is determined by analysing the past weather statistics over a long period.

5. About

Weather refers to the state of the atmosphere on a given day, and also it’s short-term or we can say it’s a short period variation.

Climate can also be defined as meteorological data that depicts the fluctuation in weather at a given location during a certain period.

6. Period

After knowing these many differences it’s obvious that weather is measured or analysed for a short period. Whereas, it’s clear that climate is the study that is measured over a long period.

7.  Study

Weather: Meteorology is the science of studying the atmosphere and its motions at short time intervals. Meteorology, sometimes known as ‘weather,’ is the study of atmospheric factors that affect present or near-future circumstances.

Climate: Climatology has progressed in tandem with our capacity to monitor and measure system aspects such as fundamental velocity, atmospheric humidity, cloud kinds, soil moisture, temperature, and precipitation, barometric pressure, wind speed, etc.

Conclusion

To conclude, the weather is nothing more than how a specific location feels at any given time. The information needed to determine the weather is recorded at a specific moment. The climate, on the other hand, is the overall weather in a specific location, i.e. the sum of weather components observed over a lengthy period.

faq

Frequently asked questions

Get answers to the most common queries related to the UPSC Examination Preparation.

What are the types of weather?

Answer: Temperature It’s starting to get hot out th...Read full

What are the types of climate?

Answer: Tropical The average year-round temp...Read full