The Difference between Weather and Climate

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According to (Gutro, 2005) “Weather is basically the way the atmosphere is behaving, mainly with respect to its effect upon life and human activities.” Climate is different from weather it consists of the short term changes in the atmosphere, while climate is the weather over a long period of time.

Weather is made up of sunshine, rain, cloud cover, winds, hail, snow, sleet, freezing rain, flood, blizzards, ice storms, and thunderstorms, steady rains from a cold front, excessive heat, heat wave and more (Gutro, 2005). According to (editor, 2013) Weather differs from climate in that the latter includes the synthesis of weather conditions that have prevailed over a given area during a long time period-generally 30 years. Weather occurs in the troposphere, which is the lowest region of the atmosphere; the troposphere extends from the Earth’s surface to 6-8 km (4-5) at the poles and to about 17 km (11 miles) at the equator. Clouds and almost all precipitation develop in the troposphere. Conditions in the higher regions of the troposphere and above, such as the jet stream and upper-air waves, significantly affects sea-level atmospheric-pressure pattern-the so-called highs and lows- and thereby the weather condition at the terrestrial surface. Features such as mountains and large bodies of water also affect weather. It is also been identified that ocean-surface temperature anomalies are a potential cause of atmospheric temperature anomalies in successive seasons and at distant locations. An example of this weather-interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere is what scientists call the Nino/South Oscillation (ENSO). There is also evidence that ENSO is responsible not only for unusual weather events in the equation Pacific region,...

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...e Bahamas,

Although some islands were affected more than others depending on the path the hurricane took. See figure 10 below

Hurricane

Image from Department of Meteorology

References

editor, T. (2013, June 4). Weather. Retrieved from Encyclopaedia Britannica: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/638309/weather

Encyclopedia, T. C. (2014). Weather Ballon. Retrieved from Infoplease: http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/science/weather-balloon.html

Gutro, R. (2005, February 1). Features. Retrieved from NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/noaa-n/climate/climate_weather.html

The Bahamian Climate. (2014). Retrieved from The Bahamas Meteorology Department: http://www.bahamasweather.org.bs/index.php

University, N. S. (2013, August 13). Instruments. Retrieved from Climate Education for K-12: https://www.nc-climate.ncsu.edu/edu/k12/.instruments

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