ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Baroclinity

Baroclinity is when the air or water is different temperatures or pressures in different places, which causes it to move around a lot. You know how when you shake up a snow globe, the snowflakes move around quickly? That's kind of like what happens when the air or water gets all mixed up and baroclinic.

When the air or water is warm in one area and cold in another, it can create storms or winds because the air or water wants to move from one place to another to try and balance things out. It's like when you're playing with two toys and you want to play with them both at the same time - you keep moving back and forth between them.

Scientists study baroclinity to try and predict weather patterns and make forecasts. By understanding how the air and water move when they're baroclinic, they can figure out when and where storms might happen, and how strong they might be. So, baroclinity is kind of like a puzzle that scientists are always trying to put together to make the weather forecast more accurate.