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Watch: Weather and climate

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What is weather?

Sue holding an umbrella and looking at some mountains, a bridge and lake.

Weather is a description of what the conditions are like in a particular place. For example, it could be:

  • hot or cold
  • wet or dry
  • windy or calm
  • stormy, with thunder and lightning
Sue holding an umbrella and looking at some mountains, a bridge and lake.
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What is climate?

Climate is a description of the average weather conditions in a certain place for the past 30 or so years.

Different areas of the world have different climates. We call these climate zones.

Cartoon of hippos in a lake surrounded by sand and palm trees.
A mammoth in the snow.

Climate is influenced by lots of different things, including:

  • how near or far it is from the Equator
  • how near or far it is from the sea
  • how high or low the ground is
  • its position on a continent
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Weather in different places

Image gallerySkip image gallerySlide 1 of 7, Hot weather, Hot, sunny weather at a beach.
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Activity: Quiz – Weather and climate

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