Weather and climate mountain ranges toward prevailing winds, and the ocean current. Weather and climate There is often confusion between weather and climate. Weather is the condition of the atmosphere at a particular place over a short period of time, whereas climate refers to the weather pattern, using statistical data, of a place over a long enough period to yield meaningful averages. Meteorology studies weather, while climatology studies climate; both are atmospheric sciences. Climate is an important physical element because it indicates the atmospheric condition of heat, moisture and circulation; it plays a dominant role in shaping vegetation and soil; and it ultimately
Weather front northwest to southeast. Movement is largely caused by the pressure gradient force (horizontal differences in atmospheric pressure) and the Coriolis effect, which is caused by Earth's spinning about its axis. Frontal zones can be slowed down by geographic features like mountains and large bodies of warm water. Weather front A weather front is a boundary separating two masses of air of different densities, and is the principal cause of meteorological phenomena outside the tropics. In surface weather analyses, fronts are depicted using various colored triangles and half-circles, depending on the type of front. The air masses separated by a front