Our climate is changing, but do you know the difference between Climate and Weather?

Climate and weather have one difference. Weather measures the conditions of the atmosphere, through temperature, humidity, wind and precipitation, over a short period of time (day, week and month). Climate is the average weather for a particular region and time period, usually taken over 30 years. The climate system is very complex and studying it does not only mean looking at what is going on in the atmosphere but also in the ground, oceans, glaciers and so forth.

Climate change doesn’t mean variability will stop, in the same way that climate change won’t cause hurricanes to stop in the Caribbean. What is happening in Europe can be attributed to the natural variability effect; there’s late winter effect and early winter effect. So this must be seen in a global sense.

While Europe may be experiencing a late winter, others might be experiencing an early spring effect. Last year, in the United States, they had very early spring

~Dr Kenrick Leslie, CBE, Executive Director, Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre

Interview with the Jamaica Observer, June 2013

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