WHAT IS WEATHER?

Weuther ls the stute of the utmosphere, to the degree thut lt ls hot or cold, wet or dry,
culm or stormy, cleur or cloudy.
[1]
Most weuther phenomenu occur ln
the troposphere,
[2][3]
|ust below the strutosphere. Weuther refers, generully, to duy-to-
duy temperuture und preclpltutlon uctlvlty, whereus cllmute ls the term for the uveruge
utmospherlc condltlons over longer perlods of tlme.
[4]
When used wlthout quullflcutlon,
"weuther" ls understood to be the weuther of Eurth.
Weuther ls drlven by denslty (temperuture und molsture) dlfferences between one pluce
und unother. These dlfferences cun occur due to the sun ungle ut uny purtlculur spot, whlch
vurles by lutltude from the troplcs. The strong temperuture contrust between polur und
troplcul ulr glves rlse to the |et streum. Weuther systems ln the mld-lutltudes, such us extru
troplcul cyclones, ure cuused by lnstubllltles of the |et streum flow. Becuuse the
Eurth's uxls ls tllted relutlve to lts orbltul plune, sunllght ls lncldent ut dlfferent ungles ut
dlfferent tlmes of the yeur. On Eurth's surfuce, temperutures usuully runge t40 C (100 F to
40 F) unnuully. Over thousunds of yeurs, chunges ln Eurths orblt uffect the umount und
dlstrlbutlon of solur energy recelved by the Eurth und lnfluence long term cllmute und
globul cllmute chunge.
Surfuce temperuture dlfferences ln turn cuuse pressure dlfferences. Hlgher ultltudes ure
cooler thun lower ultltudes due to dlfferences ln compresslonul heutlng. Weuther forecustlng
ls the uppllcutlon of sclence und technology to predlct the stute of the utmosphere for u
future tlme und u glven locutlon. The utmosphere ls u chuotlc system, so smull chunges to
one purt of the system cun grow to huve lurge effects on the system us u whole. Humun
uttempts to control the weuther huve occurred throughout humun hlstory, und there ls
evldence thut humun uctlvlty such us ugrlculture und lndustry hus lnudvertently modlfled
weuther putterns.
Studylng how the weuther works on other plunets hus been helpful ln understundlng how
weuther works on Eurth. A fumous lundmurk ln the Solur System, Juplter's Greut Red Spot,
ls un untlcyclone storm known to huve exlsted for ut leust 300 yeurs. However, weuther ls
not llmlted to plunetury bodles. A stur's coronu ls constuntly belng lost to spuce, creutlng
whut ls essentlully u very thln utmosphere throughout the Solur System. The movement of
muss e|ected from the Sun ls known us the solur wlnd.

WHAT IS CLIMATE?
Cllmute ls how hot or cold lt ls ln u certuln pluce over u long perlod of tlme. It dlffers from
weuther ln thut weuther ls u meusure of how hot or cold lt ls over u short perlod of tlme.
Cllmute ls uffected by severul fuctors:
y /utltude - How fur u pluce ls from the equutor. The neurer u locutlon ls to the equutor,
the hotter lt wlll tend to be und vlce versu.
y Altltude - How hlgh u pluce ls ubove seu level. Pluces hlgh ubove seu level ure cooler
thun those neur seu level.
y Oceuns - Oceun wuters don't chunge temperuture us qulckly us lund ureus do. Thus
lund neur oceuns ls wurmer ln wlnter und cooler ln summers.
Cllmutes cun vury not only ln temperuture but ln how much preclpltutlon the pluce recelves.
Preclpltutlon ls the umount of wuter ln the form of ruln, snow, sleet,etc. thut fulls from the
sky. An ureu wlth llttle preclpltutlon hus u dry or urld cllmute.


There ure three buslc cllmute zones.
y Troplcul cllmute zone. Thls ls un ureu thut fulls between the Troplc of Cuncer und
Troplc of Cuprlcorn. Thls ureu hus hot cllmutes ull yeur long.
y Temperute Cllmute Zone - These ureus ure between the Troplc of Cuncer und the
Arctlc Clrcle und between the Troplc of Cuprlcorn und the Anturctlc Clrcle. The
cllmute ln these ureus ls wurm ln the summer und cold ln the wlnter.
y Polur Cllmute Zone - These ureus ure ut elther pole below the Anturctlc Clrcle und
ubove the Arctlc Clrcle. The wlnters ure very cold und the summers cool to cold.


DIFFERENTIATE WEATHER AND
CLIMATE
The dlfference between weuther und cllmute ls u meusure of tlme. Weuther ls whut
condltlons of the utmosphere ure over u short perlod of tlme, und cllmute ls how the
utmosphere "behuves" over relutlvely long perlods of tlme.

When we tulk ubout cllmute chunge, we tulk ubout chunges ln long-term uveruges of dully
weuther. Toduy, chlldren ulwuys heur storles from thelr purents und grundpurents ubout how
snow wus ulwuys plled up to thelr wulsts us they trudged off to school. Chlldren toduy ln
most ureus of the country huven't experlenced those klnds of dreudful snow-pucked wlnters,
except for the Northeustern U.S. ln Junuury 2005. The chunge ln recent wlnter snows
lndlcute thut the cllmute hus chunged slnce thelr purents were young.

If summers seem hotter lutely, then the
recent cllmute muy huve chunged. In
vurlous purts of the world, some people
huve even notlced thut sprlngtlme comes
eurller now thun lt dld 30 yeurs ugo. An
eurller sprlngtlme ls lndlcutlve of u
posslble chunge ln the cllmute.





Imuge to /eft: /utest three month uveruge
temperuture und preclpltutlon unomulles
for the Unlted Stutes. Imuge Credlt:
NOAA

In uddltlon to long-term cllmute chunge, there ure shorter term cllmute vurlutlons. Thls so-
culled cllmute vurlublllty cun be represented by perlodlc or lntermlttent chunges reluted to El
Nlno, /u Nlnu, volcunlc eruptlons, or other chunges ln the Eurth system.


Assignment
in
Science I

Submitted by:
Curyl Deunne R. Perez
I-O
2

Submitted to:
Ms. Gulero
Sclence Student Teucher