These Things May Seem The Same, But They Have Some Pretty Important Differences

Some U.S. Senators Still Don’t Understand Weather vs. Climate

Photo credit: Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto/Sergi Reboredo/VW PICS/UIG/Getty Images

Every winter, there’s always those few people who take to Twitter to exclaim, “See! It’s snowing. Climate change can’t be real.” Those people have understandably mistaken weather and climate. The easiest way to know the difference is that weather is the short-term version of climate. Rain, heat, snow, sun on any particular day is the weather.

Climate is how the Earth’s atmosphere behaves over an extended period. The climate in Brazil is warmer and more humid than the climate in Canada, but they can both have rain. If a climate changes too rapidly, it can have serious adverse effects.