Weather vs. Climate

The difference between weather and climate is summed up in the following:

Climate is what you expect, Weather is what you get
or
If you don't like the weather, wait a few days; if you don't like the climate, move

So let's deconstruct...

Expect vs Get
The statistical part of weather vs. climate is captured in this one. Simply put climate is the average weather over some period of time. I spent a string of summers at the far end of the Alaskan peninsula on a set of islands sticking out into the Pacific Ocean. There was a map of Alaskan weather that turned up on post cards and T-shirts; the weather in the Shumagins was characterized as Always Shitty (as opposed to Mostly Shitty, Occasionally Shitty etc in other parts of that great state). You get the picture. In the Shumagins we would watch the Weather Channel precursor called "Alaska Weather" it was a brilliant 1/2 hour weather forecast for the region and you could often see the low pressure systems lining up to the west along the Aleutians. The Lows would bring the weather, the lining up is the climate.

Wait vs. Move
This one captures another piece of the story. Different places have different climates, Everywhere has weather. Weather is variable on the time scale of days or weeks. At best climate is variable on time scales of years or decades. So if you don't like "Shitty" weather, it is best not to live in Alaska (if on the other hand a really good storm on a regular basis through out the summer is your cup of tea, then the Shumagins are just the place (I spent my summers there because my adviser was an Englishman (Welsh really) who like the northern bits of the UK and the Shumagins were a good subsitute and had more active tectonics (or so we thought...))). If you like a really good down-pour 'long about mid-afternoon everyday through out the summer and fall followed by a really steamy evening, then South Florida is just the place for you. Sometimes you get hurricanes in South Florida, sometimes you get thunderstorms in Alaska, but the expectation is different.

Begin Aside
So then what is all the fuss about "climate variability" that we have been making in the National Assessment of Climate Variability and Change. Well here is the rub, sometimes you don't get what you expect. We have warm winters, wet springs, dry summers, and cool falls. It all comes down to the base line. One major factor in the variability of climate is El Nino. Another may be that human activity is changing some of the fundamental dynamics that we have come to take as normal (At the 100,000yr time frame, you get climate variability on the scale of glaciers vs no glaciers). (If your mind is starting to bend that is ok) But as I love to say that is a future topic...
End Aside