Weather Issues

A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water. Carl Reiner, American actor

When people meet and start discussing weather, it is rarely out of meteorological interest and it serves merely as an easy way to start a conversation. Most weather-related vocabulary in English describes typical British weather – it is grey, raining, windy or foggy – but what about more extreme winter weather we experience in winter months?

Winter weather is characterised by lots of rain and drizzle, or snowflakes. Sleet is a mix of rain and snow. When the snow melts, it often turns into slush before it disappears. At very low temperatures, water freezes on the ground into ice crystals to form frost and water turns into ice, often forming long icicles hanging from roofs of houses.

In winter, weather conditions can sometimes be extreme, with very low temperatures and strong wind, such as blizzards. In the mountains with lots of snow there is a danger of avalanches, where large masses of snow roll down a mountain side, or a whiteout, where the visibility is severely reduced by huge quantities of snow blown by the wind. Wind can also create a sudden burst of snow called a flurry, and when it blows large masses of snow into a heap, it is a drift.

If you have to travel in extreme winter conditions, you will first have to take a shovel and clear the snow around your car. Then you will have to defrost your windshield in order to see where you are going. If you are in a hurry, you might want to use the ice scraper to remove the frost or snow from the car windows. As required by law, in the EU your car would have to be fitted with winter tyres, and for snow conditions. You must drive carefully, because wet roads can be slippery, and if they turn icy, that can be very dangerous. The most dangerous form of ice is the so-called black ice, which is transparent and therefore difficult to detect, especially at night. In areas with lots of snow, roads must be cleared by snow ploughs, as well as de-iced or gritted. Gritting prevents the roads from freezing and the snow from sticking onto the road surface.

As you can see, there are so many words you can use if you want to talk about winter weather. And if you want to be imaginative in saying it is really cold, you can say: It’s chilly; It’s nippy; It’s frosty; It’s biting cold; It’s freezing cold; It’s brass monkeys!