The difference between weather and climate

14th December
The storm that continues to keep us trapped in Antarctica is an excellent example of the difference between weather and climate. The climate of Antarctica is that of a desert with very little precipitation. Generalised data that I saw before we came away showed the coastal areas of Antarctica receiving about 30cm of snow a year and the inland areas 5cm. However, weather appears to ignore the long term trends that are climate. Over the past four days, 25cm of snow has fallen at Patriot Hills and a further 10cm is expected today and tomorrow. Now, by Alpine standards this isn’t a lot, but remember that we are living in a desert where those figures are definitely unusual.

The conditions have been caused by two depressions heading inland. Normally depressions circulate around Antarctica from West to East (the same direction as in the Northern Hemisphere, the direction is caused by the spin of the Earth) affecting only the coastal areas. However, these depressions have changed course and moved towards the Pole. On their way, they have gained height, broken up and dropped the moisture that is inside them.

Is the weather we are experiencing 'freak' weather? That is a difficult question to answer, as there are no long term weather records for Patriot Hills. To work out the climate of an area you need a minimum of 30 years of continuous records; there is nowhere near that amount of data for this location, so we can say that the weather is unusual, but not necessarily freakish.

Is this climate change?
Also, the temperatures at the Pole are very warm for this time of year (-26 deg C). Is this global warming or is this simply unusual weather (the snow and high temperatures caused by low cloud stretch all the way from the coast to the Pole)? You decide … think about the fact that for it to be climate change you would need to show a long term change, preferably over 30 years or more … but then if we wait on that definition will we act too late to avert climate change?