Lesson 2 Climate

Weather is the conditions found at a certain place at a specific time. This includes the temperature, air pressure, cloud cover, precipitation, wind speed, and humidity. For example, a description of the weather on a winter’s day in Edmonton might be snowing (this describes the cloud cover and the precipitation) with a temperature of –10 ˚C, an air pressure of 102.7 kPa, and 85% humidity. This tells us what the conditions are like at an exact time in an exact place

Climate, on the other hand, is the average weather conditions that occur in a region over a long period of time. Scientists usually look at a minimum of 30 years’ worth of weather conditions when determining climate. When describing climate, you are describing the average range for a season for a region of land. For example, we could talk about a province’s climate. According to Travel Alberta, Alberta has an average summer temperature of 20 ˚C to 25 ˚C and an average winter temperature of –5 ˚C to –15 ˚C. Alberta has an average of 312 sunny days annually (the highest in Canada) and an average annual precipitation of 30 to 60 cm (this includes rain and snow). The temperature, amount of sunlight, and annual precipitation are climatic factors.