Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face. When people meet and start discussing weather, it is rarely out of meteorological interest and it serves merely as an ice-breaker, an easy way to start a conversation. Most weather-related vocabulary in English describes typical British weather – it is overcast (grey), raining/drizzle (light rain), windy or foggy – but what about more extreme winter weather we experience in winter months? This year winter weather seems to be keeping its distance from us, but let us remind ourselves of what it might be like. Winter weather is characterised by lots of precipitation, which falls onto the ground in drops (rain and drizzle), or snowflakes. Sleet is a mix of rain and snow. When the snow thaws (or melts), it often turns into slush before it disappears. At very low temperatures, water vapour freezes on the ground into ice crystal 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 a blizzard. In the mountains with lots of snow there is a danger of avalanche, 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.
