okay so if we scientists are so good at
making these dire long-term predictions
about the climate how come we’re so
lousy about predicting the weather
besides this year we had a colder winter
in my town where all the scientists know
we could be in for global cooling here’s
the difference between weather and
climate weather is what the atmosphere
does in the short term our to our day to
day weather is chaotic which means that
even a microscopic disturbance can lead
to large-scale changes that’s why those
10-day weather forecasts are useless a
butterfly flaps its wings in Bali and
six weeks later your outdoor wedding in
Maine is ruined
climate is the long-term average of the
weather over a number of years it’s
shaped by global forces that alter the
energy balance in the atmosphere such as
changes in the Sun tilt of the Earth’s
axis the amount of sunlight the earth
reflects back to space and the
concentration of greenhouse gases in the
air a change in any of them affects the
climate in ways that are broadly
predictable
my friends meandering represents the
short-term fluctuations that’s whether
it’s almost impossible to predict
what’ll attract his interest next I’m
not hard to know what the range of his
meandering will be cuz I’m holy I’m on a
leash
we can’t observe climate directly all we
see is the weather the average weather
over the course of years reveals a
pattern I represent that long-term trend
which is climate keep your eye on the
man not the dog
whether is hard to predict like my
friend here but climate is predictable
climate has changed many times in the
long history of the earth but always in
response to a global force the strongest
force driving climate change right now
is the increasing co2 from the burning
of fossil fuels which is trapping more
heat from the Sun all that additional
energy has to go somewhere some of it
warms the air most of it ends up in the
oceans all over the world the oceans are
getting warmer
making these dire long-term predictions
about the climate how come we’re so
lousy about predicting the weather
besides this year we had a colder winter
in my town where all the scientists know
we could be in for global cooling here’s
the difference between weather and
climate weather is what the atmosphere
does in the short term our to our day to
day weather is chaotic which means that
even a microscopic disturbance can lead
to large-scale changes that’s why those
10-day weather forecasts are useless a
butterfly flaps its wings in Bali and
six weeks later your outdoor wedding in
Maine is ruined
climate is the long-term average of the
weather over a number of years it’s
shaped by global forces that alter the
energy balance in the atmosphere such as
changes in the Sun tilt of the Earth’s
axis the amount of sunlight the earth
reflects back to space and the
concentration of greenhouse gases in the
air a change in any of them affects the
climate in ways that are broadly
predictable
my friends meandering represents the
short-term fluctuations that’s whether
it’s almost impossible to predict
what’ll attract his interest next I’m
not hard to know what the range of his
meandering will be cuz I’m holy I’m on a
leash
we can’t observe climate directly all we
see is the weather the average weather
over the course of years reveals a
pattern I represent that long-term trend
which is climate keep your eye on the
man not the dog
whether is hard to predict like my
friend here but climate is predictable
climate has changed many times in the
long history of the earth but always in
response to a global force the strongest
force driving climate change right now
is the increasing co2 from the burning
of fossil fuels which is trapping more
heat from the Sun all that additional
energy has to go somewhere some of it
warms the air most of it ends up in the
oceans all over the world the oceans are
getting warmer
Please follow and like us: