Differences between weather and climate
Although weather and climate are closely related, they are not the same thing. The chief difference between weather and climate is time. Weather is defined as daily or short-term conditions like temperature, cloud cover, precipitation and wind affecting a certain area. Climate is defined as the weather conditions of an area averaged over a series of years, usually 30 years or more.
Weather and climate – Venn diagram
Weather
Climate
Weather and climate
Unused items
- Day to day
- 3 days
- Hot day
- Changes quickly
- Wear a raincoat
- Year to year
- 3 decades
- Hot summer
- Changes slowly
- Own a raincoat
- Can vary
- Can be local
- Can be regional
Weather and climate – Venn diagram
Use this interactive to explore the similarities and differences between weather and climate.
In this activity, students use an interactive or paper-based Venn diagram to illustrate similarities and differences between weather and climate. The Venn diagram can also be used as a starting point to investigate the factors that influence weather and climate.
By the end of this activity, students should be able to:
describe the similarities and differences between weather and climate
discuss some of the factors that influence weather and climate.
Download the Word file (see link below).
Related content
The article Weather and climate has background information to support this activity.
Read about meteorology in New Zealand with the article Weather forecasting. It includes an extensive timeline.
The article Planet Earth and Beyond – Weather curates weather-related content on the Hub.
The article Our atmosphere and climate – introduction has links to resources that inform students (and the general public) about the state of New Zealand’s climate.
Acknowledgement
This resource has been produced with the support of the Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ. (c) Crown Copyright.
Environmental reporting series
The Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ produce New Zealand’s environmental reporting series. Every 6 months, they report on an aspect of Aotearoa New Zealand’s environment.
