How do changing weather patterns affect climate?
1 Answer
It really works the other way around: climate changes are impacting the weather.
Explanation:
Climate refers to the weather conditions in a particular area over a long period of time. When we discuss changes in climate, we discuss long-term changes in the natural greenhouse effect, temperatures of the oceans/land, heat content of the atmosphere, changes to pressure cells, changes to the cyrosphere (ice and snow) and a number of other factors.
Weather refers to short-term changes in air temp, pressure, wind speed and the kind of information you get in a weather report. Weather is largely driven by climatic factors (as above). So, when the climate starts to change (as it is now), the weather also gets out of whack. Global climate change right now is leading to more heat waves, more intense rainfall events and associated flooding, more intense and longer wildfires and a number of other impacts to weather systems.
Check out this related question on the difference between weather and climate.
