WEATHER & CLIMATE

CE 312 ENGINEERING GEOLOGY

 WEATHER OR CLIMATE?
WEATHER
• It is the condition of the atmosphere at a particular place over a short period of time.
Meteorology studies weather

CLIMATE
• Refers to the weather pattern of the place over a long period, long enough to yield
meaningful averages.
Climatology studies climate

Both are ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES

 WEATHER OR CLIMATE?
WEATHER
• It is the condition of the atmosphere at a particular place over a short period of time.
Meteorology studies weather

CLIMATE
• Refers to the weather pattern of the place over a long period, long enough to yield
meaningful averages.
Climatology studies climate

Both are ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES

 WEATHER OR CLIMATE?
WEATHER
• It is the condition of the atmosphere at a particular place over a short period of time.
Meteorology studies weather

CLIMATE
• Refers to the weather pattern of the place over a long period, long enough to yield
meaningful averages.
Climatology studies climate

Both are ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES

 5 MAJOR ELEMENTS OF WEATHER &
CLIMATE
1. TEMPERATURE - defines how hot and cold was the atmosphere. The most important
factor that determines the weather because it influences the other elements of the weather.
2. PRESSURE - defines the weight of the air resting on the Earth’s surface.
3. WIND - defines the movement of air masses.
4. HUMIDITY - defines the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere.
5. PRECIPITATION - defines the amount of possible product of rapid condensation process
such as snow, hail, sleet, drizzle and rain.
 5 MODIFYING FACTORS
1. LATITUDE
2. ALTITUDE
3. DISTANCE TO THE OCEAN/SEA
4. TOPOGRAPHY
5. OCEAN CURRENT
 1. LATITUDE
The farther the place from the equator, the colder the temperature. Locations close to equator
have warmer temperatures than those far away.
 2. ALTITUDE
Places with higher elevations above sea level have colder temperatures than places at sea level.
 2. DISTANCE FROM THE SEA
COASTAL AREA INLAND AREA
• Cooler Summers • Warmer Summers
Air over water bodies heat up slowly Air over land bodies heat up faster

• Warmer Winters • Cooler Winters

Air over water bodies lose heat slowly Air over land bodies lose heat faster
 4. TOPOGRAPHY
It contributes the movement of wind direction through the changing of altitude of wind from
the ground surface.
 5. OCEAN CURRENT
Ocean currents affect the temperature of towns located near water as it can bring warm or
cold air depending on the current.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
HURRICANE, TYPHOON AND CYCLONE?
The only difference between hurricane, a cyclone,
and a typhoon is the location where it occurs but
they are all the same weather phenomenon.

Hurricane if it is in Atlantic and Northeast Pacific.

Typhoon in Northwest Pacific.

Cyclone in South Pacific and Indian Ocean.

TROPICAL CYCLONE OR CYCLONE?
Tropical cyclone aka “LPA/Low Pressure Area”
is a generic term used by meteorologists to
describe a rotating, organized system of clouds
and thunderstorms that originates over tropical
or subtropical waters and has closed, low-level
circulation.

If it reaches maximum sustained winds of 74

miles per hour or higher, it is then classified as
hurricane, typhoon or cyclone.
MOST POWERFUL TYPHOON, HURRICANE,
CYCLONE EVER RECORDED
• At North Atlantic
The most intense storm as the lowest
pressure is Hurricane Wilma in 2005 (882
hPa or 26.05 inHg) but the strongest storm
is Hurricane Allen in 1980 at 1-minute peak
sustained winds (305 km/h or 190 mph).
• At Eastern Pacific
The most intense storm is Hurricane Patricia
in 2015 at 345 km/h or 215 mph sustained
winds.
MOST POWERFUL TYPHOON, HURRICANE,
CYCLONE EVER RECORDED
• At Northwest Pacific
The most intense storm was Typhoon Tip in
1979 at 260 km/h or 160mph.
• At North Indian Ocean
The most intense storm is Cyclone Paradip
in 1999 at 260 km/h or 160 mph sustained
winds.
How does lightning form?
 How does lightning form?
Lightning is an electric current. To make this electric current, first you need a cloud.
When the ground is hot, it heats the air above it. This warm air rises. As the air rises, water vapour cools and
forms a cloud. When air continues to rise, the cloud gets bigger and bigger. In the tops of the clouds,
temperature is below freezing and the water vapour turns into ice.
Now, the cloud becomes a thundercloud. Lots of small bits of ice bump into each other as they move around.
All these collisions cause a build up of electrical charge.
Eventually, the whole cloud fills up with electrical charges. Lighter, positively charged particles form at the top
of the cloud. Heavier, negatively charged particles sink to the bottom of the cloud.
When the positive and negative charges grow large enough, a giant spark - lightning - occurs between the two
charges within the cloud. This is like a static electricity sparks you see, but much bigger.

Most lightning happens inside a cloud, but sometimes it happens between the cloud and the ground.
A build up of positive charge builds up on the ground beneath the cloud, attracted to the negative charge in the
bottom of the cloud. The ground's positive charge concentrates around anything that sticks up - trees, lightning
conductors, even people! The positive charge from the ground connects with the negative charge from the
clouds and a spark of lightning strikes.
How does lightning form?
WHY DOES THE LIGHTNING DOES NOT
APPEAR TOGETHER WITH ITS SOUND?
Answer:
During the lightning strikes, the light appears
ahead of its sound because the speed of light is
much faster than the speed of sound. So in
every struck of lightning there were always a
delay time between its sound.
Speed of light = 299 792 458 m / s
Speed of sound = 343 m / s
WHY THE SKY IS BLUE?
Answer:
A clear cloudless day-time sky is blue
because molecules in the air scatter blue
light from the sun more than they scatter
red light.  When we look towards the sun
at sunset, we see red and orange colours
because the blue light has been scattered
out and away from the line of sight.
WHY THE SKY IS BLUE?
Many scientist has proven that the
appearance of colors in the sky was done
by the Tyndall Effect in which a white
light from the sun passes thru the
particles that causes spectrum. Spectrum
is the dispersion of the passing light into
different colors with different
wavelengths. The shortest wavelength of
all the colors was violet and the farthest
was red.
IF VIOLET IS THE SHORTEST
WAVELENGTH, STILL WHY BLUE?
Answer:
Our vision is less sensitive to color violet
although it is evidently the shortest of all.
Our eyes were only respond more on the
primary colors such as red, green and
blue. So combining all the factors
between the distance of scattered
wavelength and our vision preferably
blue will most likely to appear.