"Will Hand" wrote in message
...

"Brian in Aberfeldy" wrote in message
...
On Jan 6, 2:26 pm, "ronaldbutton" wrote:
Whilst trying to keep the weather reports at frenzy level ,the Beeb have
mentioned several times today that Britain has been struck by BLIZZARDS
,.
Whilst I know it is normal to read out the list of blocked roads in the
Peak
District and the Cairngorms in order that we can all share in the
disaster
zones,I'd have thought that snow ,no matter how heavy can hardly be
described as a blizzard when winds are less than 5 MPH all over the
SouthEast . The cub reporters should hold fire with their adjectives cos
soon they might run out....

RonB

I think it is a symptom of being sent out to report on the weather and
a fear that the reporter has to make it sound bad as to justify the
job. I am also sure that the producers ask them to hype it up a bit,
indirectly, in order to make "good news"

The recent silly Basingstoke stuff springs to mind.
==============

They should go up to the top of Dartmoor at Yes Tor then they'll know what
real blizzards are. Been there, done that, and it ain't very pleasant,
almost got frostbite in 18 inches of lying snow and -3C with a force 6
three years ago.

Whiteouts too - I've been on a mountain when a real whiteout confused my
senses to the extent where up and down became hard to judge.... scary when
sliding on a plank knowing precipitous drops were nearby!

"Dave Cornwell" wrote in
---------------------
To be honest, if you cover fifty odd years of winters as a lot on here do
this is pretty run of the mill stuff to be honest. If you look at the last
twenty though it's a bit more unusual.
Dave


Not true for the top half of the country I'm afraid. It's anything but run
of the mill.
It may even turn out to be the coldest of the last 50 years, granted we're
not halfway through, but at the halfway stage (8 days away) it will be far
colder than even 62/63 here.
Alex.

Dawlish wrote:

Many European countries, such as the UK, have a lower threshold: the
Met Office defines a blizzard as "moderate or heavy snow" combined
with a mean wind speed of 30 mph (48 km/h) and visibility below 650
feet (200 m)."

I don't think these thresholds have been exceeded anywhere during this
recent UK cold spell, except, perhaps, on high ground.

See my post on Dec 19th. I believe that met the UK definition.
--
Steve Loft
Sanday, Orkney. 5m ASL. http://sanday.org.uk/weather
Free weather station softwa http://sandaysoft.com/
uk.sci.weather FAQs/glossary/etc: http://weatherfaqs.org.uk/

"ronaldbutton" wrote in message
...
Whilst trying to keep the weather reports at frenzy level ,the Beeb have
mentioned several times today that Britain has been struck by BLIZZARDS ,.
Whilst I know it is normal to read out the list of blocked roads in the
Peak District and the Cairngorms in order that we can all share in the
disaster zones,I'd have thought that snow ,no matter how heavy can hardly
be described as a blizzard when winds are less than 5 MPH all over the
SouthEast . The cub reporters should hold fire with their adjectives cos
soon they might run out....

RonB



Fully agree Ron. As I recall the media began using 'blizzard' in 1962/3 and
it is now applied to any fall of snow-retrospectively as well. I doubt if in
all my years of living/travelling around the British Isles and beyond that
I've ever experienced a blizzard in the true sense of the word. Similarly
'whiteout' (mentioned in a later post) is a popular word with journalists
and those of vivid meteorological imagination. Now don't even get me started
on the use and misuse of 'Gulf Stream' - a favourite of the writers of
travel brochures for our western shores.

At this point I must recommend some useful reading. 'Meteorological
Glossary' published by HMSO (1991)a really useful book available now from
Amazon starting at £3.95

--
George in Epping, West Essex (107m asl)
www.eppingweather.co.uk
www.winter1947.co.uk
COL 36055

In article ,
ronaldbutton writes:
Whilst trying to keep the weather reports at frenzy level ,the Beeb have
mentioned several times today that Britain has been struck by BLIZZARDS ,.
Whilst I know it is normal to read out the list of blocked roads in the Peak
District and the Cairngorms in order that we can all share in the disaster
zones,I'd have thought that snow ,no matter how heavy can hardly be
described as a blizzard when winds are less than 5 MPH all over the
SouthEast . The cub reporters should hold fire with their adjectives cos
soon they might run out....

That has been really annoying me too.
--
John Hall
"Acting is merely the art of keeping a large group of people
from coughing."
Sir Ralph Richardson (1902-83)

"George Booth" wrote in message
...

"ronaldbutton" wrote in message
...
Whilst trying to keep the weather reports at frenzy level ,the Beeb
have mentioned several times today that Britain has been struck by
BLIZZARDS ,.
Whilst I know it is normal to read out the list of blocked roads in
the Peak District and the Cairngorms in order that we can all share
in the disaster zones,I'd have thought that snow ,no matter how
heavy can hardly be described as a blizzard when winds are less
than 5 MPH all over the SouthEast . The cub reporters should hold
fire with their adjectives cos soon they might run out....

RonB



Fully agree Ron. As I recall the media began using 'blizzard' in
1962/3 and it is now applied to any fall of snow-retrospectively as
well. I doubt if in all my years of living/travelling around the
British Isles and beyond that I've ever experienced a blizzard in
the true sense of the word. Similarly 'whiteout' (mentioned in a
later post) is a popular word with journalists and those of vivid
meteorological imagination. Now don't even get me started on the use
and misuse of 'Gulf Stream' - a favourite of the writers of travel
brochures for our western shores.

At this point I must recommend some useful reading. 'Meteorological
Glossary' published by HMSO (1991)a really useful book available now
from Amazon starting at £3.95

--
George in Epping, West Essex (107m asl)
www.eppingweather.co.uk
www.winter1947.co.uk
COL 36055


.... the word 'blizzard' in English language use probably goes back to
the last decade of the 19th century. I have a note that it was used in
connection with the March 1891 snow event, possibly for the first time
in writing, though probably the word was around for a while before. It
is thought to be derived from the phrase (in German) " Der sturm kommt
blitzartig ", which, subject to correct by Colin, I believe to mean
'the storm coming/came lightning-like'.

Martin .


--
Martin Rowley
West Moors, East Dorset (UK): 17m (56ft) amsl
Lat: 50.82N Long: 01.88W
NGR: SU 082 023

In article
,
Brian in Aberfeldy writes:
On Jan 6, 2:26*pm, "ronaldbutton" wrote:
Whilst trying to keep the weather reports at frenzy level ,the Beeb have
mentioned several times today that Britain has been struck by BLIZZARDS ,.
Whilst I know it is normal to read out the list of blocked roads in the Peak
District and the Cairngorms in order that we can all share in the disaster
zones,I'd have thought that snow ,no matter how heavy can hardly be
described as a blizzard when winds are less than 5 MPH all over the
SouthEast . The cub reporters should hold fire with their adjectives cos
soon they might run out....

RonB

I think it is a symptom of being sent out to report on the weather and
a fear that the reporter has to make it sound bad as to justify the
job. I am also sure that the producers ask them to hype it up a bit,
indirectly, in order to make "good news"

The recent silly Basingstoke stuff springs to mind.

I think it's more likely to be simple ignorance. I suspect that they
think that "blizzard" just means heavy snow.
--
John Hall
"Acting is merely the art of keeping a large group of people
from coughing."
Sir Ralph Richardson (1902-83)

In article ,
Alex Stephens Jr writes:
"Dave Cornwell" wrote in
---------------------
To be honest, if you cover fifty odd years of winters as a lot on here do
this is pretty run of the mill stuff to be honest. If you look at the last
twenty though it's a bit more unusual.
Dave


Not true for the top half of the country I'm afraid. It's anything but run
of the mill.
It may even turn out to be the coldest of the last 50 years, granted we're
not halfway through, but at the halfway stage (8 days away) it will be far
colder than even 62/63 here.

I think for once Scotland had a less severe winter than England in
1962-3.

There is a good piece in today's Telegraph putting the current winter in
perspective. He rather downplays it, though he's a Scot:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/we...ed-winter.html
--
John Hall
"Acting is merely the art of keeping a large group of people
from coughing."
Sir Ralph Richardson (1902-83)

In article ,
George Booth writes:
As I recall the media began using 'blizzard' in 1962/3
snip

It seems to go back a lot further than that in the UK, though perhaps it
went out of fashion for a time. According to Clive Carter in "The
Blizzard of '91", writing about the great West Country snowstorm of
March 1891: "In 1891 'blizzard' itself was a new term, an Americanism
which came into sudden and popular usage that week, having first arrived
in England only a month before when a severe snowstorm was reported in
Nebraska."

I do recall on January 2, 1964, that after the 9:00 BBC News the map
showing the weather forecast chart for the next day had the one word
"Blizzards" for the south and Midlands, which was so remarkable that it
stuck in my mind. (Even that winter did not always deliver. Though the
Midlands I believe got the promised blizzards, after an inch or so of
snow in the night we had drizzle with a temperature of 1C. By
mid-afternoon the drizzle had stopped and we were back below freezing. I
shouldn't really complain as we already had close to 18" of snow on the
ground from earlier falls.)
--
John Hall
"Acting is merely the art of keeping a large group of people
from coughing."
Sir Ralph Richardson (1902-83)

In article ,
John Hall writes:
I do recall on January 2, 1964, that after the 9:00 BBC News the map
showing the weather forecast chart for the next day had the one word
"Blizzards" for the south and Midlands, which was so remarkable that it
stuck in my mind. (Even that winter did not always deliver. Though the
Midlands I believe got the promised blizzards, after an inch or so of
snow in the night we had drizzle with a temperature of 1C. By
mid-afternoon the drizzle had stopped and we were back below freezing. I
shouldn't really complain as we already had close to 18" of snow on the
ground from earlier falls.)

I expect you'll have stopped the obvious typo. For 1964 read 1963.
--
John Hall
"Acting is merely the art of keeping a large group of people
from coughing."
Sir Ralph Richardson (1902-83)