Cartoon saguaro cactus in the desert.

What is climate?

"Climate" describes conditions over the long term and over an entire region.

Climate is the big picture. It is the big picture of temperatures, rainfall, wind and other conditions over a larger region and a longer time than weather. For example, the weather was rainy in Phoenix, Arizona, last week. But this city usually gets only about 7 inches of rain each year. So the climate for Arizona is dry. Much of Southern California also has a dry, desert climate. Brazil has a tropical climate, because it's warm and rains there a lot.