Climate

The climate (ancient Greek: κλίμα) is the weather averaged over a long period of time. A descriptive saying is that "climate is what you expect, weather is what you get." The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) glossary definition is:

Climate vs weather

The exact boundaries of what is climate and what is weather are not well defined and depend on the application. For example, in some senses an individual El Niño event could be considered climate; in others, as weather.

Related Topics:
Weather - El Niño

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When the original conception of climate as a long-term average came to be considered, perhaps towards the end of the 19th century, the idea of climate change was not current, and a 30 year average seemed reasonable (but see note 1). Given the current availability of long-term trends in the temperature record, it is harder to give a precise contradiction-free definition of climate: over a 30 year period, averages may shift; over a shorter period, the statistics are less stable.

Related Topics:
Climate change - Note 1 - Temperature

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