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2024年9月1日 · 1. What is the difference between weather and climate? Weather refers to short-term atmospheric conditions in a specific area, while climate is the long-term average of weather patterns over a region. 2. How does climate change affect weather patterns? 3.
2024年10月10日 · Weather, state of the atmosphere at a particular place during a short period of time. It involves such atmospheric phenomena as temperature, humidity, precipitation (type and amount), air pressure, wind, and cloud cover. Weather differs from climate in that the latter includes the synthesis of.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
2023年3月22日 · The weather and climate in a particular part of the world will influence its vegetation and wildlife. This study guide looks at clouds, how weather is measured, and forecasting. Factors...
- Overview
- Outside Influences
- Climate Groups
Not to be confused with weather, climate represents Earth's average conditions over time.
Climate isn't the same thing as weather. Weather is the condition of the atmosphere over a short period of time; climate is the average course of weather conditions for a particular location over a period of many years.
One of the factors that influences climate is the angle of the sun's rays. In the tropics, between 23.5° N and 23.5° S, there is at least one time of year when the noontime sun is directly overhead and its rays hit at a direct angle. This produces a hot climate with relatively small temperature differences between summer and winter.
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In the Arctic and Antarctic (north or south of 66.5° latitude), there are times of year when the sun is above the horizon 24 hours a day (a phenomenon known as midnight sun) and times when it never rises. Even in the summer, the sun is low enough for temperatures to be lower than in the tropics, but the seasonal changes are much greater than in equatorial regions. Interior Alaska has seen temperatures as high as 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius).
Closer to the Equator lie the temperate regions. These include the United States, Europe, China, and parts of Australia, South America, and southern Africa. They have the typical four seasons: winter, spring, summer, and fall.
Climate is also controlled by wind, oceans, and mountains.
Winds bring moisture to land. North and south of the Equator, the trade winds blow from the northeast and southeast, respectively. These winds converge in the tropics, forcing air to rise. This produces thunderstorms, humidity, and monsoons.
North and south of the trade winds, about 30° from the Equator, there is relatively little wind, and therefore little moisture blowing inland from the oceans. Also, dry air is sinking back to the surface, warming in the process. This is why many of the world's great desert regions—the Sahara, Gulf, Iran, Iraq, and chunks of Mexico—lie at the same latitude. A similar band of deserts lies to the south in Australia, South America, and southern Africa.
Mountains force wind to rise as it crosses over them. This cools the air, causing moisture to condense in clouds and rain. This produces a wet climate on the upwind side of the mountains and an arid "rain shadow" on the downwind side.
In the early 1900s, climatologist Wladimir Köppen divided the world into five major climate groups.
Moist, tropical climates are hot and humid. Steppes and deserts are dry, with large temperature variations. Plentiful lakes, rivers, or nearby oceans give humid, midlatitude climates cool, damp winters, but they have hot, dry summers. Some of these climates are also called Mediterranean. Continental climates occur in the centers of large continents.
Mountain ranges (or sheer distance) block off sources of moisture, creating dry regions with large seasonal variations in temperature. Much of southern Canada, Russia, and parts of central Asia would fall into this category. Cold, or polar, climates round out Köppen's list. A sixth region, high elevations, was later added to the classification system.
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A supercell thunderstorm strikes in South Dakota. Among the most severe storms, supercells can bring strong winds, hail, and even tornadoes. ( See more extreme weather pictures .)
2024年9月13日 · Climate, conditions of the atmosphere at a particular location over a long period of time; it is the long-term summation of the atmospheric elements (and their variations) that, over short time periods, constitute weather. These elements are solar radiation, temperature, humidity, precipitation.
The main difference between weather and climate is duration. Weather and climate relate to one another in much the same way that an inning in a baseball game compares with the whole game. The weather is the set of conditions in the atmosphere in one location for a limited period of time—such as throughout the day, at night, or at any ...
2024年10月2日 · Weather refers to the day-to-day changes in the atmosphere. The UK’s weather forecasts are put together using data collected by aeroplanes, weather buoys, radars and satellites. Extreme weather...
