ABSTRACT
Television, radio, newspaper, and business journal reports during the 1970’s made many people aware of a succession of climatic episodes that had worldwide economic, political, and social repercussions. The developments point to the changing viewpoint of what, in the English language, is meant by ‘weather’ and ‘climate’. Traditionally, in terms of time, ‘weather’ has been regarded as the events that happen over a short period, usually a few hours to a few days, whereas ‘climate’ has been regarded as the events that happen over long periods, usually years to decades to centuries. Irrespective of how the terms ‘weather’ and ‘climate’ are defined, the overall impact of short-term variations in these parameters will continue to be important. It is often argued that information about the atmospheric resource cannot be used in economic, agricultural, and political planning until accurate climate forecasts are available. People, firms, and governments make many weather and climate-related decisions.
