On Jan 6, 6:16*pm, "Martin Rowley"
wrote:
"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- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

The word may be older than you think, having its roots in the 1820's
in America, but not to describe anything meteorological. The first
written usage was in 1862, again in America.

http://www.answers.com/topic/blizzard

"John Hall" wrote in message
...


I think it's more likely to be simple ignorance. I suspect that they
think that "blizzard" just means heavy snow.

Yes, the general public think just that.
I had to laugh though at the reporter on NW Tonight
who was high up on Saddleworth Moor.
It was sunny and it is true that there was some blowing snow
around as it was pretty windy.
Yes, conditions were bleak but he still called it a 'blizzard'.
--
Col

Bolton, Lancashire
160m asl

"John Hall" wrote in message
...

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

Having just seen a news report on BBC Scotland from the Borders, where a
widespread 18 -24 inches has fallen in the last 24 hours and transport has
all but ceased I'm sure he wouldn't have been downplaying it as he was
eating breakfast this morning. I was going to say whilst he was reading his
article at breakfast, but I don't think he'll have a paper delivered for a
few days, perhaps a week. I would also be worried if I were one of his hens
lol.
It was a good article, but with the benefit of hindsight he may well have
already changed his tune, particularly if he's one of the thousands of
houses in the borders currently without power.
We may have 8 weeks of winter yet to come, but this rivals the winter of
81/82 already (in the central lowlands) despite the lack of sub -20ºC
thermometer readings (so far). The second half of January and February 82
was on the warm side. No guarantee that will be the case in 2010. The winter
of 46/47 was the same but in reverse, with an exceptional February...
January 2010 may well be it's equal.
I may be jumping the gun, but it's probably equally as foolish to write it
off at this stage as just another normal winter in Scotland, particularly at
the start of it's coldest phase.
Alex.

On Jan 6, 7:12*pm, Dawlish wrote:
On Jan 6, 6:16*pm, "Martin Rowley"





wrote:
"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- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

The word may be older than you think, having its roots in the 1820's
in America, but not to describe anything meteorological. The first
written usage was in 1862, again in America.

http://www.answers.com/topic/blizzard- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Then I went to my copy of the OED bible!

The OED states that the origin of the word is unknown, (though I too
favour "Blitz" as the origin - lightning), but was first used in the
US in 1829 to describe a sharp blow, knock, or a shot. The connotation
of wind and blinding snow came into usage in 1870.

Col wrote:


"John Hall" wrote in message
...


I think it's more likely to be simple ignorance. I suspect that they
think that "blizzard" just means heavy snow.

Yes, the general public think just that.
I had to laugh though at the reporter on NW Tonight
who was high up on Saddleworth Moor.
It was sunny and it is true that there was some blowing snow
around as it was pretty windy.
Yes, conditions were bleak but he still called it a 'blizzard'.

I had to laugh at the BBC reporter outside the village of Mountain, Yorkshire
standing in what looked to be about 6-8 inches of snow saying "as you can see
there's several feet of snow".

--
Norman Lynagh
Tideswell, Derbyshire
303m a.s.l.

On Jan 6, 7:23*pm, Dawlish wrote:
On Jan 6, 7:12*pm, Dawlish wrote:





On Jan 6, 6:16*pm, "Martin Rowley"

wrote:
"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- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

The word may be older than you think, having its roots in the 1820's
in America, but not to describe anything meteorological. The first
written usage was in 1862, again in America.

http://www.answers.com/topic/blizzard-Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Then I went to my copy of the OED bible!

The OED states that the origin of the word is unknown, (though I too
favour "Blitz" as the origin - lightning), but was first used in the
US in 1829 to describe a sharp blow, knock, or a shot. The connotation
of wind and blinding snow came into usage in 1870.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Then I did some more digging to verify, being a bit of an etymological
nerd and came up with this detailed and fascinating paper by Richard
Wild from the Univ. of Derby (no date) but can be found on the Torro
site:

http://www.torro.org.uk/TORRO/public...lizzarddef.doc

It has the same 1829 reference as the OED, but quotes Martin's German
phrase "Der sturm kommt
blitzartig" with the same translation as a possible origin, but the
paper says that the etymology is still speculative. It was certainly
in written use in several places by 1870.

On Jan 6, 7:32*pm, Dawlish wrote:
On Jan 6, 7:23*pm, Dawlish wrote:





On Jan 6, 7:12*pm, Dawlish wrote:

On Jan 6, 6:16*pm, "Martin Rowley"

wrote:
"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- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

The word may be older than you think, having its roots in the 1820's
in America, but not to describe anything meteorological. The first
written usage was in 1862, again in America.

http://www.answers.com/topic/blizzard-Hidequoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Then I went to my copy of the OED bible!

The OED states that the origin of the word is unknown, (though I too
favour "Blitz" as the origin - lightning), but was first used in the
US in 1829 to describe a sharp blow, knock, or a shot. The connotation
of wind and blinding snow came into usage in 1870.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Then I did some more digging to verify, being a bit of an etymological
nerd and came up with this detailed and fascinating paper by Richard
Wild from the Univ. of Derby (no date) but can be found on the Torro
site:

http://www.torro.org.uk/TORRO/public...lizzarddef.doc

It has the same 1829 reference as the OED, but quotes Martin's German
phrase "Der sturm kommt
blitzartig" with the same translation as a possible origin, but the
paper says that the etymology is still speculative. It was certainly
in written use in several places by 1870.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Oh dear! I read the paper a second time and found something that I'd
missed on first reading! Richard Wild includes this:

"Stirling (1982) terms a blizzard as snowstorms or notable snowfalls
which cause chaos to traffic with snow depths greater than ten
centimetres".

Mybe our cub reporters in the SE had actually done this HW*! 8))

*Yeah, sure!

"Martin Rowley" schreef in bericht
news:es41n.2527

: ... 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'.

My Concise Oxford Dictionary says

blizzard, n. blinding snowstorm [U.S. "violent blow" (1829), "snowstorm"
(1870), origin unknown; cf. "blizz" downpour (of rain, 1770)].

The idea of an Americanism - see John Hall's post - having its origin in
German is not far-fetched, but the Oxford does not seem to back it up.

"Der Sturm kommt blitzartig" does indeed mean what you wrote: "The storm
comes lightning-like" (i.e. in a way that resembles lightning)

Colin Youngs
Brussels

"John Hall" wrote in message
...
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

Perhaps I should have said 'the media began misusing the word blizzard'

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

"Norman" wrote in message
...
Col wrote:


"John Hall" wrote in message
...


I think it's more likely to be simple ignorance. I suspect that they
think that "blizzard" just means heavy snow.

Yes, the general public think just that.
I had to laugh though at the reporter on NW Tonight
who was high up on Saddleworth Moor.
It was sunny and it is true that there was some blowing snow
around as it was pretty windy.
Yes, conditions were bleak but he still called it a 'blizzard'.

I had to laugh at the BBC reporter outside the village of Mountain,
Yorkshire
standing in what looked to be about 6-8 inches of snow saying "as you can
see
there's several feet of snow".

--
Norman Lynagh
Tideswell, Derbyshire
303m a.s.l.

....and there was a silly woman on the BBC News at lunchtime talking about
lorries which had knife-jacked.
:-)
Roger