CoCoRaHS: Weather vs Climate

Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network

This animated video describes the difference between weather and climate in a fun and engaging way. It provides a brief overview of both topics and covers common misconceptions and logical fallacies about climate and weather differences.

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Notes from our reviewers

The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness. Read what our review team had to say about this resource below or learn more about how CLEAN reviews teaching materials.

The wrestlers are somewhat stereotypically presented so the teacher should consider commenting on this before viewing the video with students.
The video presents data over different 30 year intervals to explain how scientists determine climate norms and changes. Graphs are presented and metaphors are used to explain the differences between weather and climate. Reputable references are mentioned including Colorado State University, NOAA, and NSF. This video discusses misconceptions of climate versus weather. Passed initial science review - expert science review pending.
A student would need to know basic weather terminology, such as temperature and weather patterns, ahead of time to understand this video. It would help if students are already somewhat familiar with altitude, latitude, topography, and geography to understand this video. This video would work well while trying to examine the differences between weather and climate. The quality of the video is very clear, engaging, and funny.