It’s scorching here in Los Angeles. And that means I get the inevitable statement tossed to me by people: You’re right, global warming is here!
Wrong. There’s a big difference between weather, such as hot temperature, and climate change. Indeed, my researcher and I have recently been talking about the misnomer of global warming and the misconception that weather is climate change.
So let’s then turn to the definitions: Weather is the current state of the atmosphere with respect to heat or cold, wetness or dryness, calm or storm, clearness or cloudiness. Climate is the average course or condition of the weather over a period of years.
To be sure, the Earth tries to balance temperatures. So more warm days and fewer cool days adjusts degrees higher on average. That’s where global warming—more accurately climate change–comes in. It means extreme weather on both ends of the spectrum.
For now, however, it’s just another hot, spring day in LA.
Thomas M. Kostigen is The New York Times bestselling coauthor of 