the word climate means the average weather conditions over a number of years
including temperature, wind, and rainfall. when we talk about climate change, we mean the unusual
changes in the earth's weather patterns that have happened over the last 100 years
it is true that the weather is always changing, and sometimes the weather changes in ways we really
don't expect. for example, we might have a warm, sunny day in the middle of winter, or a cold, windy day
in the middle of summer. recording the temperatures of each day helps us find the average temperature for
the whole year. doing this in many different parts of the world lets us find the average global temperature.
when all temperatures are taken together, we would expect any ups and downs in the year to cancel each other out,
and the average temperature to stay roughly the same from one year to the next.
however, scientists have found that the temperature is not staying the same, and our planet is actually getting warmer
each year, this is called global warming, and it is a major part of climate change.
extreme changes