Q1.
‘Climate’ is a word people use in everyday conversations. But, quite often, what they really mean is ‘weather’, and not ‘climate’. What's the difference?
Answer
The difference is the length of time you are talking about.
| Weather | Climate | |
|---|---|---|
| Time scale | What we experience every hour or day | The pattern over a long period — several decades at least |
| Does it change? | It keeps changing, all the time | It usually stays stable over long periods |
| Examples | ‘It is raining’; ‘there is bright sunshine’; ‘there is a lot of wind today’ | ‘The Thar Desert has an arid climate’; ‘the northern plains have a subtropical climate’ |
| How you find it out | Look out of the window | Study records of temperature, rainfall and wind over thirty years or more |
Tip: a one-line way to remember it — weather is a mood, climate is a personality. A cheerful person can have a bad day (a rainy day in a dry region); that does not change who they are.