Dear RealDonaldTrump: We're officially mad

Friday, December 29, 2017, 9:44 AM - Dear Mr. Trump, you’ve really done it this time. The meteorologists are mad.

We’re used to the pokes about getting it wrong and still getting paid.  You could have stuck to that tried and true jab. But no, you went for the knock out. The weather = climate punch.

While many of us wish we had the brawn to throw down, we scientists realize our strength involve discussion around facts.

Weather is like your mood, and climate is like your personality.  Related, but different (more on this below).

One tweet storm at 3 a.m. doesn’t necessarily mean a person has a hostile personality: Maybe they've just had a bad day.  That’s like the weather. A record cold New Year’s Eve doesn’t make global warming any less real.

The fact is, the planet is warming.

But in the spirit of discussion, what we need is less blame and more work on making our future better.  To start, we should all rise above connecting every bad weather system to the existence or absence of climate change.  We could do so much more by agreeing there is a problem, and tackling it together.

Sincerely,

Chris Scott, Meteorologist

P.S. Looking great for golf this weekend!

Comparing climate and weather

Climate and weather are related, but they are not the same thing. The best way to understand the relationship is to think of climate as the atmosphere's personality, and weather like it's mood. Your personality is shaped over years, it tends to change slowly and is the sum of all your moods – both the averages and the extremes. In the same way, climate change and global warming are measured over decades and centuries and reflect changes in the averages and the extremes of weather.

Watch below: David Suzuki: "Mr. Trump is not going to be able to avoid the reality"