I am so glad that we had the discussion in class yesterday about weather and climate. I have seen lots of articles, including on this site, about strange and random weather occurrences going on all the time, and how they were all linked to the changing climate. That’s the thing, though; weather is random. Weather fluctuates often due to multiple factors, and events change all the time. Climate, however, is a constant trend of weather events that gives detailed explanations of what happens in different regions. this is what should be taken into account when talking about climate change.
I hear about freak weather occurring often around where I live. Last winter, Eugene got minus-zero temperatures and inches of snow. Everyone freaked out about climate change. A balmy 50 degrees in February? Climate change. Tulips sprouting up earlier than they’re supposed to? Climate change. It gets kind of annoying after a while. These, however, are just random events.
Climate is different. Climate is the pattern of prevailing conditions in an area over a long period of time. Eugene usually gets more rainfall per year than Bend, Oregon. That is climate. The beaches of Newport tend to be colder year-round than the ones in Southern California. That is climate.
I am aware of the changing climate, though. The rise in the amount of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. The increasing temperatures in our oceans. I’m not trying to deny the existence of climate change. I’m just saying that people shouldn’t be fussing about it when just one big storm hits one of our cities.
I, too, thought the terms were essentially interchangeable. Until the video we watched in class, I figured that weather was the status of the sky (rain, sun, clouds), while climate was measured potentially on a broader scale. Now that I understand the difference, it makes sense to discuss it int he way we do; climate is every changing and can be measured over long periods of time.