Cartoon cloud with rain and lightning.

What is weather?

Cartoon weatherman giving forecast for the next five days.

TV weather reporters need all the information they can get in order to predict the weather for just a few days.

Weather is local and temporary.

On our own Earth, we cannot control weather by turning a thermostat up to make it warmer or down to make it cooler. The best we can do is try to predict the weather. Weather scientists, called meteorologists, try to foresee what's going to happen next.

Is that big black cloud going to let loose over San Francisco, or wait until it gets to Sacramento? Will that new storm forming in the Atlantic Ocean turn into a hurricane? Conditions are just right for tornadoes. Will any form? And where might they touch the ground and cause trouble?

Weather happens at a particular time and place. Rain, snow, wind, hurricanes, tornadoes—these are all weather events.