If you think weather and climate change are the same thing, you need to read this

Last night Donald Trump was tweeting. That isn't surprising news but this time he wasn't talking about approval ratings or fake news.

This time the President of the United States was talking about how cold it is in certain parts of America, seemingly as a way of discrediting climate change.

This certainly isn't one of Trump's finest moments but it is just one of a string of incidents where he has claimed that climate change isn't a real thing.

As we all know Trump isn't the only person that doesn't believe in climate change. So, what should you do when faced with someone who doesn't believe in its existenc?

Luckily for us, American meteorologist professor Marshall Shepard has a template that we can all follow.

Writing for Forbeshe starts off by stating that "weather is mood, climate is personality", citing this as something that University of Georgia colleague Dr John Know used to say.

The best way to interpret this is that weather patterns often tell you nothing about long-term climate change.

In contrast, climate can only be defined by the properties of the atmosphere such as averages, extremes and the frequency at which things occur.

Shepard then comes up with this neat analogy:

The clothes that you have on today do not describe what you have in your closet but rather how you dressed for today's weather.

In reality, your closest is likely packed with coats, swimsuits, t-shirts, rain boots, and gloves.

In other words, what's in your closet is a representation of 'climate.'

Shepard continues by stating that all the US is seeing right now is basically just winter.

What we are seeing right now in the United States is just,.........well......wait for it......"winter"...

Even as the climate warms, we will always have winter (cold weather, snowstorms, blizzards).

Winter is related to how the Earth is tilted on its axis as it moves around the Sun.

No matter how hot the planet becomes winter will always exist. That is just the pattern of the seasons and that is unlikely to ever change.

While winter is really making its presence felt at the moment, it shouldn't be ignored that 2017 will end as one of the three warmest years since records began.

As it stands, winter and climate change aren't going anywhere - so dress appropriately and always read what the experts have to say.

HT Forbes

More: Show these 9 images to your nearest climate-change denier