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What is the difference between weather and climate?
Weather is how the sky and air feel on a daily basis, like if it’s sunny, rainy, or windy today. Climate is how the weather usually is in a place over many years.
What are the causes of weather change?
Weather can change due to things like wind, clouds, temperature, humidity, sunlight, and air pressure. These can quickly change what the weather feels like.
What does the weather mean?
Weather means the daily condition of the sky and air—like if it's hot, cold, sunny, cloudy, rainy, or windy outside.
Difference Between Weather and Climate
Ever get curious how climate is different from weather? Discover the difference between weather and climate in this guide. Learn about their causes and how they affect our daily lives.
Nikita Aggarwal22 May, 2025
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Difference Between Weather and Climate: When talking about weather and climate, many children get confused between the two. While both words are related to the atmosphere, they have different meanings. Understanding the difference between weather and climate is important to know how the Earth’s atmosphere works. Therefore, in this article, we will explain the key differences of weather vs climate, so keep reading.
What is Climate?
Climate means the normal or usual weather of a place over a long period of time. It tells how hot or cold a place usually is, how much it rains, how strong the wind blows, and how humid or dry the air feels.
To know the climate of a place, scientists study the weather there for many years—mostly for 30 years or more. They look at how the temperature, rainfall, wind, and other things behave over time. These long-term records help us understand what the climate of that place is like.
For example, if a place stays warm and gets little rain for many years, we say it has a hot and dry climate. If a place stays cold and gets snow every year, we call it a cold climate.
Weather means the condition of the air around us at a particular time and place. It shows us what the day is like—whether it’s sunny, rainy, windy, cloudy, hot, or cold. Weather can change very quickly. Sometimes it is sunny in the morning and rainy by the afternoon. These changes happen in the lowest part of the sky, called the troposphere, which is the layer of air closest to the Earth. The main things that decide the weather are:
Temperature (how hot or cold it is),
Rain or snow,
Wind,
Clouds,
Humidity (how much water is in the air),
And sunshine.
Today, scientists use satellites and computers to study the weather. This helps them predict the weather in advance so we can prepare for it. So, when we talk about what the sky looks like today or tomorrow, we are talking about weather. Now that we have discussed both, let’s now understand the difference between weather and climate.
We often hear people talking about the weather today or the climate of a place, but these two words don’t mean the same thing. While both talk about things like temperature, rain, and wind, they are actually quite different. Let's explore the difference between climate and weather in an easy-to-understand way.
1. Time Duration of Weather vs Climate
Weather lasts for a shorter time. It could be sunny in the morning, rainy in the afternoon, and cloudy by evening. It tells us what to expect today, tomorrow, or maybe next week. Weather keeps changing quickly.
On the other hand, climate is the average weather in a place over a long time, like 30 years or more. For example, if a place is usually hot in summers and cold in winters every year, that is its climate. It helps us understand the usual pattern of weather in a place.
So, the weather and climate difference is that weather can change daily, while climate changes slowly over many years.
2. Changes in Conditions of Weather vs Climate
Another of the biggest weather and climate differences is how quickly they change. Weather changes quickly. You might see a sunny sky turn cloudy within an hour. A strong wind might suddenly start blowing, or a storm can appear without much warning.
Climate, however, does not change suddenly. It takes a long time for the climate of a place to shift. Changes in climate happen slowly over decades. For example, if a place that was always cold becomes warmer over many years, scientists call it climate change.
So, the weather is fast and sudden, but the climate changes slowly over time.
3. Elements of Weather vs Climate
Weather includes everything that we see and feel in the atmosphere each day. This includes Sunlight, Rainfall, Snow, Wind, Cloudiness, Humidity (how moist the air feels), and Temperature (how hot or cold it is).
Climate also includes these same elements, but it looks at their average over a long time. So instead of checking the temperature for one day, climate looks at the temperature data for many years.
There are different experts who study weather and climate. Weather is studied by scientists called meteorologists. They use satellites, computers, and weather stations to find out what the weather will be like today or tomorrow. Their work helps us know if it will rain, storm, or shine.
Climate is studied by climatologists. They look at weather records from the past 30, 50, or even 100 years. They try to understand how the Earth’s climate is changing and what might happen in the future.
5. Weather vs Climate- How Do They Affect Us?
Weather affects our daily activities. It helps us decide:
What clothes to wear (raincoat or sunglasses?)
Whether to go out or stay home
If farmers can water crops today
If it's a good day for flying or sailing
Climate has a greater impact on our lives. It affects:
What kind of crops grow best in a region?
What types of houses people build
What clothes are worn in a region all year?
Which animals and plants can live there?
For example, people in hot climates often wear light cotton clothes and build houses with good ventilation. People in cold climates wear woolens and build houses that keep heat in.
Climate change means the Earth’s usual weather patterns are slowly changing. This doesn’t happen in one day. It happens over a long time, and there are many reasons behind it. These reasons are called the causes of climate change. Let's understand them in a simple way:
1. Burning of Fuels: People burn fuels like petrol, diesel, and coal for driving cars, running factories, and making electricity. This gives off gases like carbon dioxide, which trap heat in the air. This is one of the biggest reasons for climate change.
2. Cutting Down Trees: Trees help keep the air clean by taking in carbon dioxide. But when too many trees are cut down, there are fewer trees to clean the air. This makes the Earth warmer.
3. Too Much Pollution: Smoke from factories, vehicles, and waste also adds dirty gases to the air. These gases stay in the sky and trap more heat, which changes the climate slowly.
4. Using Too Many Electrical Devices: When we use too many electronic gadgets or lights, more electricity is used. If this electricity comes from coal-based power plants, it adds harmful gases to the air.
5. Farming and Animal Waste: Some farming practices and animals like cows release gases like methane. This gas also traps heat in the air and adds to climate change.
Causes of Weather Change
As previously explained, weather is what we see and feel every day—like sunshine, rain, wind, or clouds. But the weather does not stay the same all the time. It can change within hours or even minutes. Let’s understand what causes these quick changes in weather.
1. Sun’s Heat: The sun is the main reason weather happens. When different parts of the Earth get different amounts of sunlight, it causes changes in temperature. This leads to warm or cold weather and also affects wind and rain.
2. Movement of Air (Wind): When hot air rises and cool air comes in to take its place, wind is formed. This moving air can bring clouds, rain, or even storms. That’s why windy days often bring changes in the weather.
3. Water Vapour in the Air: When there is a lot of water vapour in the air, it can turn into clouds and fall as rain. Humidity (how much water is in the air) plays a big role in weather changes.
4. Clouds: Clouds carry water in the sky. If they become too heavy, it rains. Sometimes, clouds can block the sunlight and make the day cooler.
5. Mountains and Seas: Places near mountains or the sea often have changing weather. Mountains can block clouds, and seas can bring moist air that may cause rain.
To sum it up, knowing the difference between weather and climate helps us understand how our Earth works. While weather is what we feel every day, climate is about the usual weather in a place over many years.
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