Weather and Climate Geography for Teens

Welcome back explorers, Bryan here with you and today we'll continue getting to know the Earth by studying its day-to-day and long-term trends. hope you're ready for another adventure because this one could get little windy! When was the last time you looked outside to see what the weather was like? Or maybe you checked your phone to see if it'd be good day to get outside or go to the beach? Was it in the last 24 hours? The weather has such an impact on our daily lives that it's usually one of the first things we want to know each day. They even put it on the local Morning News! It's one of the few things we share with our distant ancestors from thousands of years ago. In fact, the weather was often the topic of lots of early stories and legends. Many civilizations prayed to Gods who they believe controlled the weather like the Greek God Zeus or the Norse god Thor, they control the lightning, or the Mayan God Chuck who sent rain, or Tezcatlipoca the Aztec God of hurricanes. It goes without saying that the conditions outside have big impact on the way we live our lives both in the here and now and over long periods of time. So today we'll be exploring those phenomena with the learning goals: explain the difference between weather and climate, and explain how weather and climate shape human behavior. Right off the bat, it's important to note that weather and climate are not the same thing. An easy way to remember the difference is this: weather determines what you might wear on particular day while climate determines what clothes you keep in your closet. See weather is the state of the atmosphere in specific location at specific time. Is it sunny or cloudy? Is it warm or cool? Windy or calm? Precipitation, the temperature, the wind, and other in the moment phenomena are weather events. The weather does impact the way we behave, it shapes small decisions we make like what we wear or what activities we do over the weekend. But because there are many factors that determine the specific state of the atmosphere at any given moment, the weather can be extremely difficult to predict and the consequences for not knowing what the weather will be can be severe. Weather events can have big impact on people in particular area! hail storm or heavy winds might destroy crops and corn fields damaging the food supply and the local economy, or tornado can be devastating to local infrastructure. That's why TV meteorologists can make career out of forecasting what will happen in the next few days. We need to know! Can you think of way in which you were positively impacted by weather event? What about time when you were impacted negatively? Take second to respond to the first two questions in the lesson guide. Maybe you said that your baseball game got rained out and you couldn't play! Climate on the other hand is not day-to-day concept. The climate of location refers to average weather conditions over long period of time like seasons and years. How many inches of rain or snow will an area get this year? How many hours of sunshine will there be? Is it usually humid or dry? Changes to whether are extremely common and although they can be unpredictable, the fact that they will happen is expected. Egypt has its rainy days despite being generally dry place. Changes to climate do not generally occur very quickly. Even though Egypt gets rain, it's still going to be hot and dry for the most part. That's because climate is dependent on things like altitude, terrain, sunshine, latitude, and nearby bodies of water. If the conditions of place change like if volcano erupts and an ash cloud blocks most of the sunlight for few months, climate changes may occur but more often than not climate changes occur when huge lake dries up or as wind and water erosion change the terrain in an area and those things take long time. Okay explorers, time to show what you know. How is your life shaped by the climate where you live? Pause the video to answer in your PDF. If weather events were impactful because they may cause harm or disrupt everyday life, climate has much larger impact because it shapes everyday life. For most of human history, people have only been able to eat food that has grown locally and what grows near you is dependent on climatological factors like how much rainfall and sunshine an area gets and how harsh the summers and winters are. Climate conditions in most parts of Vietnam are perfect for growing rice. blend of climate, terrain, and soil composition has made rice staple in the diets of Asians for centuries. But people living in the Sonoran desert of North America might be more familiar with eating cactus. The homes built in many parts of the world are built with weather and climate in mind as well. You'd never see this igloo in the Caribbean, they'd never last! And you'd never see these African homes in Russia. Where would they get the materials? We learned in previous lesson that people in the American southwest have been able to overcome unfavorable climate conditions like lack of fresh water with modern technology, but the Earth is still changing each day and weather and climate are no exception. The sun, wind, rain, and water currents continue to shape and reshape the Earth's surface slowly, but surely. And when those changes occur humans must adapt, or make changes to their behavior, to meet new conditions. Time for our last question in the lesson guide. Can you think of few ways that you adapt to the local weather and climate? As we continue in our study of geography, it will be important to consider the ways that humans are shaped by the environment in which they live. Geographic diversity has, to certain extent, given rise to human diversity and that's worth spending more time investigating this year. Take some time getting to know the environment near your home and how it has changed over time. It might explain how your town or your region is unique! Until next time, keep exploring!