Weather & Climate

Climate is what you expect,

weather is what you get.

Weather

• weather – the condition of the atmosphere

at a certain place and time. Studied by

meteorologists.

Climate

• climate – the average weather in a

location over a period of time. Studied by

climatologists.

Weather changes every day!

Weather is the day to day changes in the atmosphere, studied by meteorologists.

temperature precipitation

wind speed

wind direction cloud cover

humidity

air pressure sunshine

What is the difference between weather and climate?

Climate is weather measured

over a long period of time

Climate =

clothes in a

closet

Weather =

clothes for

the day

Climate is the overall pattern of weather, usually based on an average over

30 years.

Click on the buttons to find out about these types of climate.

What is the difference between weather and climate?

What climate zone do you live in?

What other climate zones have you visited?

World climate zones

Climate Zones: Low-Latitude Climates

affected by equatorial tropical air masses

Climate Zones: Mid-Latitude & Subtropical Climates

affected by two air masses: tropical air moving toward poles and

polar air masses moving toward equator

Climate Zones: High-Latitude Climates

dominated by polar and arctic air masses

In which climate zone does

Texas belong?

high latitude mid latitude

low latitude

In which climate zone does

Texas belong?

high latitude mid latitude

low latitude

Climate graphs are a way of showing how temperature and precipitation

vary throughout the year for a particular place.

Climate graphs

How to construct a climate graph…

Month Jan Fe Ma Apr Ma Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Rainfall

(mm)

54 40 37 37 46 45 57 59 49 57 64 48

Temp

(0C)

4 5 7 9 12 16 18 17 15 11 8 5

London (Kew)

Use this data to draw a climate graph for London.

Plot your own climate graph

UK - interactive climate graph