The many faces of climate on Earth

Our earth is always changing. If you ask your grandparents, they might tell you the world was colder and snowier. Maybe your mom and dad remember cold and snow, too. You haven't seen much snow and it's not very cold. Have the old folks lost it? Are they imagining the past? Why are things so different now?

Or are they that different?

Most of us know what weather is—rain, snow, wind sun. Weather changes a lot. It can be sunny, then rain again all in one day. Sometimes it snows, then rains, then snows. It's what makes dressing for school hard. Will it be cold or hot by the end of the day?

When your mom and dad talk about how cold winter was and how much snow there was, this is closer to climate. 

Climate is just what the weather is in one place over a long time. So the climate in Wyoming is cold in the winter.  The climate in Arizona is not as cold as Wyoming. The climate at the north and south poles is always cold. At the middle of the earth, the equator, the climate is always warm.

Arizona in January

Wyoming in January

A later segment will talk about why the earth has seasons. Climate does not change as much as weather. That doesn't mean it doesn't change at all. Sometimes, there's a lot of rain, sometimes not. Same for snow.

Our climate is ever-changing, just as everything on this earth is. Maybe we would all feel safer and happier if things stayed the same.

Or maybe we would just get bored!

The ever-changing climate makes life more interesting.

And interesting is better!