Summary

To know more about climate change, first we need to understand the difference between weather and climate. Weather describes the conditions of the atmosphere within a short period of time, while climate describes the average meteorological conditions over a long period of time.
Weather and climate vary from region to region. After a brief discussion of the global climate, this chapter goes on to introduce the climates in China and Hong Kong specifically.
To better understand the ongoing climate change, we need to examine the scientific evidence such as the increasing global surface temperature, increasing ocean heat content, shrinking sea ice, retreating glaciers and ice sheets as well as rising sea level.