Weather and climate · Grade 6
Weather is what the air outside is like today: hot or cold, wet or dry, windy or calm, cloudy or clear. Climate is the usual weather of a place, worked out from many years of measurements. We measure the weather with instruments and record it to find patterns.
Key facts
- Weather: the conditions on one day. Climate: the average weather of a place over many years (usually 30).
- Instruments: thermometer – temperature (°C); rain gauge – rainfall (mm); wind vane – wind direction; anemometer – wind speed; barometer – air pressure.
- A wind is named after the direction it blows from: a north wind blows from the north.
- Clouds: cumulus are white and fluffy (fair weather); stratus are a flat grey layer (dull, drizzly); cirrus are high and wispy (made of ice); cumulonimbus are huge, tall storm clouds (thunder, lightning, heavy rain).
- High air pressure usually brings settled, dry weather; low pressure brings cloud, wind and rain.
- Climate zones: polar (very cold), temperate (mild, with four seasons), Mediterranean (hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters), desert (very dry) and tropical (hot and wet all year).