Summary
Draws a clear distinction between weather (what's happening in the atmosphere right now) and climate (the long-term average pattern for a region) — a foundational concept for understanding climate science.
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Discussion
- What is the difference between weather and climate? Give an example of each.
- If it snows in April, does that mean climate change isn't happening? Why or why not?
- What kind of data would you need to describe the climate of your city?
- Why do climate scientists look at data over 30-year periods instead of just a few years?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: weather, climate, atmosphere, average, long-term, pattern, region.
Try it: Keep a weather log for one week (temperature high/low, precipitation, cloud cover). At the end, calculate the average temperature. Explain why one week of data is too short to describe your city's climate.