Q1.
'Is it going to rain today?' 'Will it be bright and sunny today?' How often do you find yourself wondering about these questions when you want to go out and play?
Answer
Almost every day — and that is precisely the chapter's point. Both questions are about today, so both of them are questions about weather, not climate.
| Weather | Climate | |
|---|---|---|
| Time scale | Hour-to-hour and day-to-day | An extended period — usually thirty years or more |
| Area | One place, right now | A large area, averaged |
| How much it varies | Can change significantly from day to day | Changes only slowly, over decades |
| The question it answers | 'Should I carry an umbrella this afternoon?' | 'Which crops can be grown in this region?' |
Notice how much weather decides for us in a single day. The chapter puts it in terms of mood and plans: hot or humid weather may make one irritable, while pleasant or breezy weather may make one cheerful, or even plan for an outing. Whether the cricket match happens, whether the clothes dry, whether the school trip goes ahead — all of it turns on the weather of that one day.
Why the two must not be mixed up: one unusually cold day in Chennai does not make Chennai's climate cold, and one dry July does not make India's climate dry. Climate is an average over a long period, so it survives odd days; weather is what any single day actually does. That is also why a single flood or heatwave cannot by itself prove climate change — the argument has to be made from the long-run pattern.