On Sat, 25 May 2013 17:09:31 +0100
Metman2012 wrote:

On 25/05/2013 16:40, Graham P Davis wrote:
On Sat, 25 May 2013 15:28:34 +0100
Adam Lea wrote:

On 25/05/13 10:45, Graham P Davis wrote:


Which is why I wish they'd return to the strict usage of 'cold,'
'cool,' 'rather warm,' etc., of a few decades ago.

Isn't that subjective as well?

Not at all, they were defined by temperature anomalies. Each word or
phrase was assigned to a range of anomalies.

The following is from the Radio Times, probably somewhen in the
1950s. The terms and changed before I started work in '62 but give
the general idea. Temperatures are in Fahrenheit.

================================================== =====================
The heat-wave sizzles on as we go to press and a reader asks us to
explain just what is meant by the descriptive terms used in BBC
weather forecasts at this time of the year. We, in turn, asked the
meteorological back-room boys for enlightenment, and they have
provided us with the following table:

Very hot - More than 20 above normal
Hot - 16-20 above normal
Very warm - 11-15 above normal
Warm - 6-10 above normal
Rather warm - 3-5 above normal
Rather cool - 3-5 below normal
Cool - 6-9 below normal
Very cool - 10-15 below normal
Cold - More than 15 below normal

Words such as 'cooler,' 'colder,' 'milder,' 'warmer' are used when a
comparison is made between the temperature conditions expected and
those recently experienced. We should add that 'normal' at the
present time varies between a maximum of approximately 70 in the
southern, and 65 in the northern, regions of the United Kingdom.
================================================== =====================


I've been looking in my various Forecaster's Reference books et al
for this, but couldn't find it. I think that in the 70s and 80s these
were changed, as I remember being told that you never used hot in the
winter or cold in the summer. Certainly nothing about 'bitterly cold'
etc. These are useful because we aren't very good at judging
temperatures - 12 C in the winter and we think it's warm; in the
summer we think it's cold!

As I said, I think they were changed before I joined up - had to be
because of switch to Celsius - but it may have changed again after '78
when I switched from forecasting to programming.

I've found that the above table only referred to Summer. Here is the
full Monty taken from 'Weather Map', published in 1956.

Summer
(Mid May to mid September)
Very Hot - More than 20F above normal
Hot - 16-20F above normal
Very warm - 11-15F above normal
Warm - 6-10F above normal
Rather warm - 3-5F above normal
Rather cool - 3-5F below normal
Cool - 6-9F below normal
Very cool - 10-15F below normal
Cold - More than 15F below normal

Winter
(November to mid March)
Very mild - More than 10F above normal
Mild - 3-10F above normal
Rather cold - 3-5F below normal
Cold - 6-10F below normal
Very cold - More than 10F below normal

Spring and Autumn
(Mid March to mid May; mid September to October)
Very warm - More than 12F above normal
Warm - 8-12F above normal
Rather warm - 3-7F above normal
Rather cold - 3-7F below normal
Cold - 8-15F below normal
Very cold - More than 15F below normal



--
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks.
Free office softwa http://www.libreoffice.org/
Carlos Seixas, Sonata nº 1 - best version of this I've found:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXox7vonfEg