Meteorologists list important facts about weather and climate that they want the general public to understand.
1. Every big weather event isn't necessarily caused by climate change.
Severe or extreme weather can be caused or intensified by climate change, but other factors play a role, too. The ingredients that create all weather events remain the same, but a changing climate can affect one or more of those ingredients, so that it occurs more often or less often — or more intensely or less intensely — over time.
One example: Sometimes prolonged heat waves or flooding rainfall are made more likely by a warmer world. And sometimes, they are driven by natural climate variability. Sorting this out takes time and careful research to identify patterns of climate change influencing specific weather events.
An easy way to think of it is: Climate is what you expect; weather is what you get.
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