Now that weather forecasting by experienced meteorologists happens everyday, weather folklore usually takes a backseat to what you see in the newspaper or hear on the morning news each day. But what is weather and temperature really? What happened to the simple cold winter, warm spring, hot summer, cool autumn? What if you move to the rainforest or the desert? Weather and temperature are hugely dependent on seasons (or lack thereof) and on an area's normal climatic change (or lack thereof).
WEATHER:
The state of the atmosphere at a specific time and with respect to its effect on life and human activities. It is the short term variations of the atmosphere, as opposed to the long term, or climatic, changes. It is often referred to in terms of brightness, cloudiness, humidity, precipitation, temperature, visibility, and wind.
TEMPERATURE:
The measure of molecular motion or the degree of heat of a substance. It is measured on an arbitrary scale from absolute zero, where the molecules theoretically stop moving. It is also the degree of hotness or coldness. In surface observations, it refers primarily to the free air or ambient temperature close to the surface of the earth.
SEASON:
A division of the year according to some regularly recurring phenomena, usually astronomical or climatic. For example, in the Northern Hemisphere, winter is said to begin on the winter solstice and end on the vernal equinox when spring begins, covering the months of December, January, and February. In the tropics, there is the dry and the rainy season, depending on the amount of precipitation.
CLIMATE:
The historical record and description of average daily and in seasonal weather events that help describe a region. Statistics are generally drawn over several decades. The most important thing to know about climate is that it changes with latitude and these changes create different ecosystems all with their own type of weather.
The most sunlight is received at the equator of our planet, and consequently, temperatures at the low latitudes near the equator are warm. The types of ecosystems that develop in this warm environment are:
Rainforests: As the name suggests, rainforests have heavy rainfall. The amount of rain varies a bit throughout the year while temperatures stay warm.
Savanna: This ecosystem has a wet season and a very dry season. Large expanses of savanna are found in Asia, Africa, South America and Australia.
Deserts: Deserts receive less rainfall than other tropical ecosystems but are just as warm. Prominent deserts are located in the southwest United States, Argentina, North Africa, and central Australia.
The area between the warm tropics and the chilly poles is called the mid latitudes. Climates in this zone are affected by both tropical air masses moving towards the poles and polar air masses moving towards the equator.
Chaparrel: This ecosystem has wet-winters and dry-summers. Examples include central and southern California; the Mediterranean coast; the west coast of Australia; the Chilean coast; and the Cape Town region of South Africa.
Grasslands: This ecosystem is typically found on the dry interior of continents such as western North America and Eurasia.
Temperate forest: A moist climate allows deciduous trees to flourish in places like the eastern United States, southern Canada and central and Eastern Europe.
High latitudes receive the least sunlight, creating cold climates.
Taiga: The forests of the taiga ecosystem survive despite long and very cold winters. Summers are short and still quite cool because of the effect of the polar air mass. Taiga forests are found in Alaska, northern Canada, and Siberia.
Tundra: Ocean winds in arctic coastal areas keep the temperatures from being as severe as interior regions. A long, chilly winter season is followed by a mild season. Tundra is found above the Arctic Circle of North America, Hudson Bay region and northern Siberia.
[ definitions from http://www.weather.com/glossary/ ]
So, now that you know the science, check out the evidence.
.who doffs his coat on a winter's day will gladly put it on in may.
danielle chirip
GEOS 371