John Hall wrote:

In article ,
Graham P Davis writes:
Everton Fox this morning has said it's going to be "very cold", "bitterly
cold", "raw", with temperatures of 5 degrees. That used to be the normal
maximum for January when I was young, and it's still only a couple of
degrees below normal.

To be fair, when I went to get my morning paper at about 8am, though the
temperature was only around freezing there was a very strong NE wind,
and I felt _much_ colder than I did four or five days ago when we had
that sharp frost and it was around -4C.

It's a bit nippy in the breeze but "bitterly cold" means losing the feeling
in hands and ears after a few minutes walk. No way is it that cold.

--
Graham Davis
Bracknell

Graham P Davis wrote:
John Hall wrote:

In article ,
Graham P Davis writes:
Everton Fox this morning has said it's going to be "very cold", "bitterly
cold", "raw", with temperatures of 5 degrees. That used to be the normal
maximum for January when I was young, and it's still only a couple of
degrees below normal.
To be fair, when I went to get my morning paper at about 8am, though the
temperature was only around freezing there was a very strong NE wind,
and I felt _much_ colder than I did four or five days ago when we had
that sharp frost and it was around -4C.

It's a bit nippy in the breeze but "bitterly cold" means losing the feeling
in hands and ears after a few minutes walk. No way is it that cold.


If you suffered with Raynaud's like me 'Bitterly Cold' could mean
anything under 18c :-)

--
Keith (Southend)
http://www.southendweather.net

I just came back from Sheerness after having a short walk along the sea
wall. The sea is very rough and the wind is gusting to F7. It certainly
feels bitterly cold. Get out of the wind and it's quite pleasant though.

Shaun Pudwell,
2M ASL, Warden Bay, Isle-of-Sheppey, North Kent.


"Keith (Southend)" wrote in message
...
Graham P Davis wrote:
John Hall wrote:

In article ,
Graham P Davis writes:
Everton Fox this morning has said it's going to be "very cold",
"bitterly
cold", "raw", with temperatures of 5 degrees. That used to be the
normal
maximum for January when I was young, and it's still only a couple of
degrees below normal.
To be fair, when I went to get my morning paper at about 8am, though the
temperature was only around freezing there was a very strong NE wind,
and I felt _much_ colder than I did four or five days ago when we had
that sharp frost and it was around -4C.

It's a bit nippy in the breeze but "bitterly cold" means losing the
feeling
in hands and ears after a few minutes walk. No way is it that cold.

If you suffered with Raynaud's like me 'Bitterly Cold' could mean anything
under 18c :-)

--
Keith (Southend)
http://www.southendweather.net

"John Hall" wrote in message
...
snip
Also I don't see why you think that December was exceptionally mild in
the south. Philip Eden says in his review of the month at
http://www.climate-uk.com/monthly/0512.htm : "Mean monthly temperature
was close to the long-term average in most parts of the UK - slightly
above in Scotland and Northern Ireland, slightly below in southern
England where it was the coldest December for four years."

.... for us specifically (Bracknell/Tawfield), the anomaly for December
was -1.1degC on the 1971-2000 base-set, probably less, but still
negative, on the 1961-1990 period.

On the Met Office site, the anomaly for 'England and Wales' (NOT the
same as the CET) is noted as being 'equal to the 1961-1990 value'; the
Hadley CET was 4.4, which I estimate is ~ -0.3degC on the 61-90 period
and ~ -0.7degC on the 71-00 set (different datasets will give different
results).

It certainly was *not* exceptionally mild!

Martin.


--
FAQ & Glossary for uk.sci.weather at:-
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/booty.weather/uswfaqfr.htm
and
http://booty.org.uk/booty.weather/metindex.htm

Shaun Pudwell wrote:

I just came back from Sheerness after having a short walk along the sea
wall. The sea is very rough and the wind is gusting to F7. It certainly
feels bitterly cold. Get out of the wind and it's quite pleasant though.


But what words are left to describe minus 5 and force 9? Forecasters are
using exceptional descriptions for unexceptional weather. If people get
used to thinking this "rather cold" weather is "bitterly cold", how can
they be warned of weather with temperatures ten degrees lower and winds ten
knots stronger? Weather forecasters and presenters should be made to stick
to the standard Met Office descriptions.

--
Graham Davis
Bracknell

"Graham P Davis" wrote in message
...
Shaun Pudwell wrote:

I just came back from Sheerness after having a short walk along the sea
wall. The sea is very rough and the wind is gusting to F7. It certainly
feels bitterly cold. Get out of the wind and it's quite pleasant though.


But what words are left to describe minus 5 and force 9? Forecasters are
using exceptional descriptions for unexceptional weather. If people get
used to thinking this "rather cold" weather is "bitterly cold", how can
they be warned of weather with temperatures ten degrees lower and winds ten
knots stronger? Weather forecasters and presenters should be made to stick
to the standard Met Office descriptions.


Couldn't agree more Graham.

This whole business is getting out of hand. It's almost laughable. Value
judgements are even more rife now in the media than they used to be :-(

Will.
--

" Ah yet another day to enjoy "
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Will Hand wrote:


But what words are left to describe minus 5 and force 9? Forecasters are
using exceptional descriptions for unexceptional weather. If people get
used to thinking this "rather cold" weather is "bitterly cold", how can
they be warned of weather with temperatures ten degrees lower and winds
ten knots stronger? Weather forecasters and presenters should be made to
stick to the standard Met Office descriptions.


Couldn't agree more Graham.

This whole business is getting out of hand. It's almost laughable. Value
judgements are even more rife now in the media than they used to be :-(


Talking about how things used to be, here's something I just found in an old
Radio Times clipping:


*Met Report*
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 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 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

Words such as 'cooler,' 'colder,' 'milder,' 'warmer' are used when a
comparison is being 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 70F in the southern, and 65F in
the northern, regions of the United Kingdom.


I don't have a publishing date for this but think it to be from about 1956.

--
Graham Davis
Bracknell

On Sat, 28 Jan 2006 15:02:40 +0000, Graham P Davis
wrote:

Talking about how things used to be, here's something I just found in an old
Radio Times clipping:

We, in turn, asked the meteorological back-room boys
for enlightenment, and they have provided us with the following table:

Very hot - More than 20F above normal
Hot - 16-20F above normal
snip

The current descriptions for all seasons are at
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/.../uk/guide.html and I have
listed the descriptions for Winter.

**Terms used to describe the temperature relative to that expected for
the time of year.**

Departure from average / Winter

+7 °C Exceptionally mild
+6 to +7 °C Exceptionally mild
+4 to +5 °C Very mild
+2 to +3 °C Mild
-1 to +1 °C Normal
-2 to -3 °C Rather cold
-4 to -5 °C Cold
-5 °C Very cold

Winter is defined as "mid November to mid March".

The descriptions are commendably restrained but they do not help to
guage how it will *feel* outside as no account is taken of wind, rain
etc. So I think iit is perfectly reasonable for a weather presenter to
describe a temperature more than 5 deg C below average in a strong to
gale force wind as "feeling exceptionally cold in the wind" Even more
so if it is expected to rain or sleet as well.

As for minus 5 degrees and a force 9 wind in lowland Britain
(mentioned by Graham), bitterly cold would be quite meaningful to me
(but it's not frostbite conditions).

--
Dave


--
Dave

What is the average age of the media editors and journalists, I wonder. As
it's nearly twenty years since the last prolonged "bitter" spell perhaps
their perception has changed as they have never witnessed true cold in the
UK, as adults.

Dave

spell"Graham P Davis" wrote in message
...
Will Hand wrote:


But what words are left to describe minus 5 and force 9? Forecasters
are
using exceptional descriptions for unexceptional weather. If people get
used to thinking this "rather cold" weather is "bitterly cold", how can
they be warned of weather with temperatures ten degrees lower and winds
ten knots stronger? Weather forecasters and presenters should be made
to
stick to the standard Met Office descriptions.


Couldn't agree more Graham.

This whole business is getting out of hand. It's almost laughable. Value
judgements are even more rife now in the media than they used to be :-(


Talking about how things used to be, here's something I just found in an
old
Radio Times clipping:


*Met Report*
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 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 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

Words such as 'cooler,' 'colder,' 'milder,' 'warmer' are used when a
comparison is being 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 70F in the southern, and 65F in
the northern, regions of the United Kingdom.


I don't have a publishing date for this but think it to be from about
1956.

--
Graham Davis
Bracknell

It's about four and three quarters isn't it ? :-)

Seriously, that's a good point Dave and rather sad in a way that in our warmer
climate they may never will unless they go on holiday to somewhere high.

Will.
--

"Dave.C" wrote in message
k...
What is the average age of the media editors and journalists, I wonder. As
it's nearly twenty years since the last prolonged "bitter" spell perhaps
their perception has changed as they have never witnessed true cold in the
UK, as adults.

Dave

spell"Graham P Davis" wrote in message
...
Will Hand wrote:


But what words are left to describe minus 5 and force 9? Forecasters
are
using exceptional descriptions for unexceptional weather. If people get
used to thinking this "rather cold" weather is "bitterly cold", how can
they be warned of weather with temperatures ten degrees lower and winds
ten knots stronger? Weather forecasters and presenters should be made
to
stick to the standard Met Office descriptions.


Couldn't agree more Graham.

This whole business is getting out of hand. It's almost laughable. Value
judgements are even more rife now in the media than they used to be :-(


Talking about how things used to be, here's something I just found in an
old
Radio Times clipping:


*Met Report*
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 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 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

Words such as 'cooler,' 'colder,' 'milder,' 'warmer' are used when a
comparison is being 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 70F in the southern, and 65F in
the northern, regions of the United Kingdom.


I don't have a publishing date for this but think it to be from about
1956.

--
Graham Davis
Bracknell