What is the difference between weather and climate?

Weather is the continuously changing condition of the atmosphere, usually considered on a time scale that extends from minutes to weeks. Climate is the average state of the lower atmosphere, and the associated characteristics of the underlying land or water, in a particular region, usually spanning at least several years. Climate variability is the variation around the average climate, including seasonal variations and large-scale regional cycles in atmospheric and ocean circulations such as the El Niño/ Southern Oscillation (ENSO) or the North Atlantic Oscillation.

Climate change occurs over decades or longer time-scales. Until now, changes in the global climate have occurred naturally, across centuries or millennia, because of continental drift, various astronomical cycles, variations in solar energy output and volcanic activity. Over the past few decades it has become increasingly apparent that human actions are changing atmospheric composition, thereby causing global climate change.