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weather =/= climate Climate is more or less the average weather over time. Think about it this way: Let's pretend (and for the sake of simplifying the problem), we have a tiny planet with only two equally sized places, A and B. And here's the (year 1) seasonal temperatures for each: (winter/spring/summer/autumn) A: 10, 20, 30, 20 B: 15, 25, 35, 25 The global average temperature (if you average all the numbers) is: 22.5 Now, let's say in year 2, the numbers change to this: A: 8, 22, 30, 20 B: 12, 28, 35, 27 Now the global average temperature has increased by a 0.25 degree to 22.75. But all of these things are also true: 1. A didn't get any warmer during the summer in year 2 than it did in year 1. 2. Both places got colder during the winter. 3. B only got 2 degrees warmer than last year. 4. The largest temperature fluctuation is 60% more extreme in year 1 than in year 2. Now, expand this example to the thousands of places that we measure weather on earth and you can see why the weather in one location would contribute statistically very little to the overall climate. |