A change in the weather: Climactic vs. climatic

Once you know the difference between climactic and climatic, fireworks will go off.

Climactic refers to the high point of something, such as the climax of a novel or something that’s orgasmic. It comes from the noun climax, except the x has been turned to a ct to get an adjective: Suddenly, a climactic crash of thunder reverberated across Chicago.

Climatic refers to the weather. It comes from the noun climate, as in: The years-long drought across Southern California is a climatic disaster.

Hopefully, such knowledge now will bring about a wind of change in some writers’ word usage.