Climate: It is the average of weather conditions measured over a period of time, which is usually 30 years. Climate is what you get during the year or during centuries, for example, cold dry winter, spring rain and hot humid summer. The elements are solar radiation, air masses, pressure systems (and cyclone belts), ocean currents and topography.
Weather: It is what you get every day, for example, sun, wind and rain.
In short, climates are weather that is being changed by its latitude, seasons and altitude.
Latitude effects climate depending on how close you are to the equator. The reason for this is that the closer you are to the equator, the more directly the sun’s rays would go through the Earth’s atmosphere. This rule is complicated by many things, which includes ocean currents and weather patterns. In general if you are close to the equator then the climate is warmer. If you are further away, then it is colder.
Explaining the concepts
Climate describes the total of all weather occurring over a period of years in a given place. This includes average weather conditions, regular weather sequences and special weather events. Climate tells us what it's usually like in the place where you live.
Areas with moderate to high temperatures and abundant rainfall throughout the year are heavily forested, unless humans have cleared the land for agriculture. Areas with somewhat less rainfall are mainly grasslands, which are called prairies in North America. Regions with not much rainfall and scarce vegetation are called deserts, or arid regions. Areas with somewhat greater rainfall are called semiarid regions. The problem with semiarid regions is that when humans use them for agriculture, the loss of natural vegetation can cause those areas to become deserts.
Weather affects our mental health in both positive and negative ways. Seasonal affective disorder is a way that can directly affect a person's mental well being. Other ways that weather can affects us are more subtle and can be the result of a combination of things. Seasonal affective disorder, or more commonly seasonal depression, causes people that are mentally stable throughout the year to become depressed in the winter due to the lack of sunshine. A person suffering from seasonal depression may become suicidal and require hospitalization; many times, they treat them with light therapy. While seasonal depression is an extreme, it is hard to imagine that the rest of the population does not experience a general sense of blah with the lack of sunshine.
Bibliography:
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Title: Climate and Weather
Date Modified: Tuesday, October 24, 2006 4:18:19 AM
Date of access: June 25th 2010
From: http://www.epa.gov/
Link: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_climate
Title: What is climate
Date Modified: Friday, July 02, 2010 12:01:56 AM
Date of access: June 25th 2010
From: WikiAnswers
Link: http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/geog101/textbook/climate_systems/elements_of_climate.html
Title: Elements of Climate
Date Modified: Monday, January 11, 2010 1:52:53 AM
Date of access: June 25th 2010
From: http://www.uwsp.edu/
Link: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_does_latitude_affect_climate
Title: How does latitude affect climate
Date Modified: Friday, July 02, 2010 12:01:56 AM
Date of access: June 25th 2010
From: WikiAnswers
Link: http://www.k5geosource.org/content/dd/climate/pg3.html
Title: GeoSource: K-5 Earth Science Education
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Date of access: June 25th 2010
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Date Modified: Friday, July 02, 2010 12:01:55 AM
Date of access: June 25th 2010
From: http://www.helium.com/
Reflections:
Studying the topic Weather and Climate in Geography is extremely important as they are all around us. Weather is what we get everyday like rain, sun, wind while climate usually tells us what it is often like in the place we live in. Extreme weather conditions may cause hazards such as floods, drought, hurricane, tornado etc. Learning this topic, we may be able to read weather data such as weather forecast so that we will know the weather conditions the next day. Also, if weather conditions are really bad, we may be able to sort of guess that there may be danger to the surroundings.
