Timescale Differences: Hours to Millennia
Explore how weather operates on human timescales while climate spans generations and geological epochs
Your Progress
0 / 5 completedInteractive: Timescale Comparison
⚡
Minutes
Thunderstorm develops
🌡️
Hours
Temperature changes during day
🌬️
Days
Cold front passes through
🔥
Weeks
Heat wave duration
💡 Key Insight: Weather changes happen within human perception—we experience them daily and can predict them days in advance.
The Zoom Lens Analogy
🔍
Daily Weather: High Variability
Temperature swings wildly day-to-day. Impossible to see climate trends.
How We Measure Each
🌤️
Weather Measurement
- •Instruments: Thermometers, barometers, radar
- •Frequency: Continuous, real-time monitoring
- •Prediction: 1-10 day forecasts
- •Location: Highly local and specific
📈
Climate Measurement
- •Data: Statistical averages over 30+ years
- •Sources: Weather stations, satellites, ice cores
- •Projection: Decades to centuries ahead
- •Scale: Regional to global patterns