Which statement correctly distinguishes weather from climate?

• A. Weather is long-term atmospheric conditions; climate is short-term averages.
• B. Weather is short-term atmospheric conditions; climate is long-term averages.
• C. Weather and climate are the same.
• D. Weather is the cause of droughts only.

Answer: (B)

Weather describes the day-to-day conditions in a place—things like temperature, precipitation, wind, and humidity over hours or days. Climate, on the other hand, is about the long-term patterns of those conditions for a region, usually summarized by averages and typical ranges over many years. So the statement that weather is short-term atmospheric conditions and climate is long-term averages captures the essential difference. The other ideas mix up the time scales, claim they’re the same, or phrase droughts as only a weather issue, which misses how droughts relate to longer-term climate patterns.