Importance
Students frequently conflate weather with climate. While related, weather occurs over short (hours to days) time scales, and climate occurs over seasons and longer time spans. Because of these common confusions, it is especially important to clarify topics such as:
- A spell of unusually cold or warm weather neither negates nor confirms human-caused climate change. Climate is defined as a long-term pattern with naturally occurring variability.
- The climate has changed throughout the history of Earth, to varying degrees, over different time periods and due to different causes.
- Human-caused warming is not the same thing as Earth's "natural" warming. Scientists use many lines of evidence to differentiate human-caused changes from natural cycles.
- Weather and climate can both vary to a large degree over very small distances.
Source: Climate Literacy & Energy Awareness Network