So let’s have a go at clarifying. Weather is what happens every day, the fluctuations in temperature, cloud cover, rain or sunshine. Billy Connolly made a wonderful comment about weather on one of his “World Tour” documentaries: “There is neither good nor bad weather, but our attitude towards it”.
Climate is what happens in a region or across the planet over a long period of time – years.
Our general focus is on weather. What will I wear tomorrow based upon what the weather man predicted on the TV? How accurate can I expect that prediction to be? These days, quite accurate. On the other hand, what do I expect the weather to be like in six months when I want to take a holiday? Should I go to Cairns or Jindabyne in August? That depends on whether you enjoy swimming or snow skiing. The former decision is based on weather, the latter on climate.
It seems that we are being told that, unless we take drastic action to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide – and other “greenhouse” gases - we are pumping into the atmosphere, temperatures will rise by at least two degrees Celsius! For us mere mortals, the idea of an increase of two or even four degrees is nothing to get excited about. We see fluctuations in temperature of 10 degrees in a single day and similar fluctuation even between daily maximums every year. So what is the problem? People in Tasmania might welcome the average increasing by two or even four degrees.
Equally, the predictions of sea level rise are hard to fathom. Each day we see the tide rise and fall and it can vary between about a metre and five or six metres. So why should anyone fuss about a rise of a metre or two. If you live on Tuvalu, a nation of reef islands and atolls in the southern Pacific, it is probably vitally important.
The numbers are so strange that they are difficult to grasp and scientists are generally abysmally poor at explaining what they mean. So we have a debate between eminent people taking opposing sides and we can barely relate to any of it - except to be afraid of some of the more extreme predictions. Movies such as The Day After Tomorrow, in which climate change is seen wreaking havoc on an unsuspecting populace, play on our fears. Equally, when the logical side of our brain fathoms that these dire predictions are the stuff of Hollywood, we tend to reject the entire proposition as false.
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