Summary
Highlights
Weather describes short-term atmospheric conditions, while climate refers to long-term average weather. The primary factors influencing climate are latitude, altitude, topography, distance to oceans, and ocean currents.
Weather refers to the atmospheric conditions over a short period (hours or days), characterized by events like thunderstorms, snowstorms, or daily temperature. Climate, on the other hand, describes the average weather conditions in a place over many years. For instance, the Philippines has a tropical and maritime climate with high temperature, humidity, and rainfall. Its two major seasons are the rainy season (June-November) and the dry season (December-May), with the dry season further divided into cold dry (December-February) and hot dry (March-May).
The climate of a place is influenced by several complex factors: latitude, altitude, topography, distance to oceans or large bodies of water, and ocean currents.
Latitude refers to the north-south position on Earth. Lower latitudes near the equator receive the most sunlight, leading to higher temperatures. As latitude increases towards the poles, temperatures generally decrease.
Altitude is the height above sea level. Generally, temperature decreases by about 1 degree Celsius for every 100 meters increase in altitude. This is why high mountains, like Mount Kilimanjaro, can have snow-covered peaks even near the equator. At higher altitudes, there is less dense air, meaning fewer air molecules to absorb heat, leading to lower temperatures and decreased air pressure.
Topography, such as mountains, significantly affects precipitation. The windward side of a mountain, facing the wind, experiences rising air, condensation, cloud formation, and precipitation. The leeward side, conversely, receives dry and warm air as the air descends, creating a 'rain shadow' with less precipitation and desert-like vegetation.
Areas near oceans tend to have more moderate climate changes between seasons and higher average precipitation. Oceans heat up and cool down much slower than land. Coastal areas are typically cooler in summer and warmer in winter compared to inland locations at similar latitudes and altitudes. Landlocked areas, in contrast, often have drier climates and extreme temperature variations.
Ocean currents, driven by wind, earthquakes, and gravity, circulate through the oceans. Warm currents flowing from the equator increase the temperature of coastal regions, leading to a warmer climate (e.g., the Kuroshio Current affecting Japan). Cold currents flowing from the poles cool coastal regions (e.g., the West Australian Current affecting Singapore and Indonesia). The Coriolis effect influences the clockwise flow in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise flow in the Southern Hemisphere.