Overview Global climate change is a change in the long-term weather patterns that characterize the regions of the world.
Weather is influenced by the sun.
The sun heats the earth's atmosphere and it's surface causing air and water to move around the planet. The first tornado captured by the National Severe Storms Laboratory Doppler radar in Union City, Oklahoma on May 24, 1973. Photo courtesy of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Some of the sun's incoming long wave radiation is reflected back to space by aerosols . Aerosol's are very small particles of dust, water vapor, and chemicals in Earth's atmosphere.