1 00:00:02,290 --> 00:00:13,900 If you're like me, you know what your perfect day looks like, weather-wise. 2 00:00:14,140 --> 00:00:15,960 Sunny, rainy, snowy, whatever. 3 00:00:16,160 --> 00:00:20,800 Personally, I love it when it's cool and cloudy, like just cold enough to wear a sweater. 4 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:25,600 You probably know that weather has something to do with how hot or cold it is outside. 5 00:00:25,739 --> 00:00:28,760 But really, there's a lot more to it than just temperature. 6 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:32,200 So grab your sunglasses, your rain boots, and your most colorful scarf, 7 00:00:32,420 --> 00:00:34,439 because today, we're talking weather. 8 00:00:34,439 --> 00:00:37,759 Let's start with a big and pretty basic question. 9 00:00:37,759 --> 00:00:41,880 What exactly is weather? 10 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:47,920 Well, weather is the condition of the air, or the atmosphere, on our planet. 11 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:51,600 But the thing is, even though there's only one atmosphere on Earth, the weather isn't 12 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:53,399 the same all over the world. 13 00:00:53,399 --> 00:00:57,399 There are many different factors that can change the atmosphere in a certain area, and 14 00:00:57,399 --> 00:01:01,299 together they determine what the weather is like from one minute and from one place to 15 00:01:01,299 --> 00:01:02,299 the next. 16 00:01:02,299 --> 00:01:07,299 Other factors include temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, and lots of other things. 17 00:01:07,299 --> 00:01:15,299 But, when you're talking about the overall weather patterns from a certain region of the world, you're talking about the area's climate. 18 00:01:15,299 --> 00:01:18,299 Weather is the minute-by-minute changes in the atmosphere. 19 00:01:18,299 --> 00:01:23,299 Climate is what the weather is like over a long period of time in a specific area. 20 00:01:23,299 --> 00:01:27,299 Now, the weather is constantly changing, all the time, every day. 21 00:01:27,299 --> 00:01:33,920 Think of the weather as being like that one friend of yours who could never make up their mind about what movie they want to see or what restaurant they want to go to. 22 00:01:33,980 --> 00:01:39,120 Just because it's beautiful and sunny outside when you wake up, that doesn't mean you won't need an umbrella before the day's over. 23 00:01:39,260 --> 00:01:42,060 And raining is just one of the things that weather can do. 24 00:01:42,260 --> 00:01:46,420 Rain, of course, is just a form of precipitation or water that falls from the sky. 25 00:01:46,579 --> 00:01:51,640 It happens when droplets of water in the clouds, or sometimes ice crystals, get heavy enough and fall to the ground. 26 00:01:51,739 --> 00:01:56,599 If they're crystals, the warm air near the ground will melt them as they fall, forming liquid raindrops. 27 00:01:56,599 --> 00:01:59,799 But do you want to build a snowman? 28 00:01:59,799 --> 00:02:02,400 Another common form of precipitation is snow. 29 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:05,959 Snow is just ice crystals that don't melt into liquid water as they fall. 30 00:02:05,959 --> 00:02:08,360 Another snow-like form of precipitation is sleet. 31 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:13,000 It's what happens when ice crystals fall toward the ground, partly melt, and then refreeze again. 32 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:15,520 But other kinds of weather can be way more severe, 33 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:21,199 and the most common kind of extreme weather is a form I'm sure you're familiar with — thunderstorms. 34 00:02:21,199 --> 00:02:25,879 A thunderstorm can happen when strong winds make drops of water and pieces of ice collide 35 00:02:25,879 --> 00:02:27,659 and break apart inside a storm. 36 00:02:27,659 --> 00:02:30,000 This causes electrical energy to build up, 37 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:32,379 which creates a little something called lightning. 38 00:02:32,379 --> 00:02:34,539 But all of this rain and snow and sleet 39 00:02:34,539 --> 00:02:36,699 I've been talking about, that's all just weather. 40 00:02:36,699 --> 00:02:39,599 And while weather can change in a few hours, 41 00:02:39,599 --> 00:02:42,060 a region's climate takes hundreds, thousands, 42 00:02:42,060 --> 00:02:44,419 even millions of years to change. 43 00:02:44,419 --> 00:02:46,599 So how can we better understand the difference 44 00:02:46,599 --> 00:02:48,300 between weather and climate? 45 00:02:48,300 --> 00:02:50,259 How about we send cartoon Sabrina 46 00:02:50,259 --> 00:02:52,199 on a little imaginary trip for a month? 47 00:02:52,199 --> 00:03:00,240 Okay, here she is at her destination, Yuma, Arizona. 48 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:01,860 Let's pretend it's the fifth of the month. 49 00:03:01,860 --> 00:03:06,099 On this particular day, where cartoon Sabrina is, it's warm but very cloudy and the light 50 00:03:06,099 --> 00:03:09,219 rain has been falling on her, sorry me, all day. 51 00:03:09,219 --> 00:03:12,919 Since clouds and rain are what the atmosphere has to offer on this particular spot at this 52 00:03:12,919 --> 00:03:18,479 moment and they can go away at any minute, those conditions are, yep, the weather. 53 00:03:18,479 --> 00:03:20,860 Now let's fast forward to the tenth of the month. 54 00:03:20,860 --> 00:03:21,979 Hello sun. 55 00:03:21,979 --> 00:03:24,379 Looks like tiny me won't be needing an umbrella today. 56 00:03:24,379 --> 00:03:25,879 How about the 15th? 57 00:03:25,879 --> 00:03:26,879 More sun. 58 00:03:26,879 --> 00:03:27,879 The 20th? 59 00:03:27,879 --> 00:03:28,879 Still sunny. 60 00:03:28,879 --> 00:03:29,879 The 25th? 61 00:03:29,879 --> 00:03:30,879 You guessed it. 62 00:03:30,879 --> 00:03:32,539 Sunny with a chance of, well, sunny. 63 00:03:32,539 --> 00:03:35,319 And finally, on the 30th, the sun's still shining. 64 00:03:35,319 --> 00:03:37,580 Little Sabrina, I hope you packed your sunscreen. 65 00:03:37,580 --> 00:03:44,740 So what does this quick time lapse of a month in Yuma tell us? 66 00:03:44,740 --> 00:03:47,500 It tells us that Yuma, Arizona is a pretty sunny place. 67 00:03:47,500 --> 00:03:51,659 In fact, on most days, it's one of the sunniest cities on the whole planet. 68 00:03:51,659 --> 00:03:56,740 So the city's weather patterns existed before Mini-Me arrived and will continue after she 69 00:03:56,740 --> 00:04:00,819 leaves. In that case, you could say that Yuma has a sunny climate, even if its weather on 70 00:04:00,819 --> 00:04:05,240 a certain given day happens to be rainy. Now you know that weather is much more than just 71 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:09,699 temperature. It's the condition of our planet's atmosphere, and it's constantly changing. 72 00:04:09,699 --> 00:04:14,379 You also know that weather and climate are not the same thing. But I say the extreme 73 00:04:14,379 --> 00:04:18,439 stuff for last. The severe weather stuff, that is. You'll have to tune in next time 74 00:04:18,439 --> 00:04:21,240 to learn more about tornadoes, hurricanes, and blizzards.