When Michelle decided to write the latest lead post from the Climate Change Collective about the difference between Weather and Climate, I was especially intrigued.
As a Geography student I changed my degree after one year to a BSc(Hons) instead of a BA(Hons) in order that I could concentrate more on physical geography. A big part of this was the study of climate, and in particular, climate change.
A lot of people mix up the two things. Often people assume a few hot or cold days mean a change in climate but generally climate is about averages. Average rainfall, temperature and windspeed. Weather is more a description of what is happening right now in our blustery skies.
Lately, a short cold burst has led to people quickly condemning the idea of climate change. This is shortsighted and doesn’t make much sense.
Over half a century, world average temperatures have increased significantly. Occasional freak weather conditions do nothing to undo this fact.
Check out Michelle’s wonderful article to find out more about this subject. I hope that you can see how important it is to be able to distinguish between Weather and Climate.