Weather is an all-encompassing term used to describe all of the many and varied phenomena that can occur in the atmosphere of a planet. The term is normally taken to mean the activity of these phenomena over short periods of time, usually no more than a few days in length. Average atmospheric conditions over significantly longer periods are known as climate. Usage of the two terms often overlaps and the concepts are obviously very closely related.
Basic mechanism
Weather phenomena result from temperature differences around the globe, which arise mainly because areas closer to the tropics, around the equator, receive more energy from the Sun than more northern and southern regions, nearer to the Earth's poles.
McCain vows to end 'partisan rancor' By ADAM NAGOURNEY AND MICHAEL COOPER Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:25:25 -0000 John McCain sought to move from a convention marked by an effort to reassure the party base to an appeal to a broader electorate. At McCain's convention, big money still talks By Michael Luo Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:29:59 -0000 For all of John McCain's efforts to purge big money from politics, large donors still wielded sizable influence over the RNC. McCain's challenge: To cast Republican ticket as anti-establishment By PETER BAKER Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:25:25 -0000 As John McCain accepted the Republican Party's nomination, he sounded a rousing insurgent's call to topple the establishment - except that he and his party head the establishment. Foreign policy factions vie for McCain's heart By David E. Sanger Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:31:37 -0000 Hidden from view during much of the Republican convention here, a fierce struggle has been under way to mold the foreign-policy approach of John McCain. To counter Palin, Obama to dispatch female surrogates By PATRICK HEALY AND JEFF ZELENY Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:25:25 -0000 With the McCain-Palin team courting female voters, the Obama camp plans to deploy prominent Democratic women. Canada to hold early elections Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:25:25 -0000 Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada plans to dissolve Parliament on Sunday and call early elections in hopes of strengthening his minority government's hold on power.