Other forms: climatologists
While a weather forecaster tells you that it will rain on Saturday, a climatologist tells you whether Saturdays have grown rainier over the past several decades. One studies day-to-day weather; the other looks at longer-term trends to study the climate.
A climatologist studies long-term weather patterns, including regular heat, rain, wind, and other conditions a place has over many years. Meteorologists tell us what the weather may do tomorrow, while climatologists look at what it has tended to do for decades. The word combines climate with -ology, meaning "the study of," and -ist, a suffix for a specialist in any field. Climate traces back to a Greek word meaning "inclination" or "slope," referring to how the curve of the earth's surface changes the angle of the sun from the equator toward the poles, creating different temperature zones.