OVERVIEW OF CLIMATE AND WEATHER
A metaphor used to distinguish weather from climate holds that weather is your mood and climate is your personality.
A metaphor used to distinguish weather from climate holds that weather is your mood and climate is your personality. Weather represents the day-to-day state of the atmosphere (e.g., air temperature, moisture, wind speed), whereas climate represents an average of those day-to-day weather conditions over a longer period of time (usually 30 years). Weather is determined by factors such as the position of the jet stream and areas of high and low pressure. Differences in temperature and moisture around the globe act to drive these factors. As such, the atmosphere is a dynamic component to our climate system.
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Climate is a comprehensive look at the weather and tells the range of weather conditions one might experience in a given location. There are several factors that determine our climate in the Plains and Midwest of the United States. Our mid-latitude location results in seasonal differences of incoming solar radiation. We are at a continental location rather than near an ocean, which keeps temperatures more variable on a day-to-day basis and throughout the year. Prevailing winds are from west to east; therefore, weather systems move in this general direction across the region. We are also under the influence of the jet stream and how wavy it is, whether it brings warmer southerly air (which another term is, having the same temperature and humidity properties) or colder northerly air. Regional-scale factors also influence our climate. Within the central U.S., features such as the Great Lakes can modify the regional climate conditions for portions of surrounding states, most notably perhaps with lake-effect snow.
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