Carol the Weather Lady

[Fatrav]

Has just said that Storm Barbara might cause power 'outages'!!!!

What happened to power cuts? Grrrrrr

[bungeejumper]

Goodbye power cuts. Hello "a dribble of fog", "spits and spots of rain", and all the rest of it. The Met Office is right at the forefront of language development, worse luck. All I can say is that it's a good job our regional weathergirl has a warm occluded front.

BJ

[oldtimer]

Oh dear...I thought that was really funny, but just went to tell my husband and had to explain. He said "Sex obsessed as I am, I wouldn't have made the connection between the two types of front!"

[Slarti]

Goodbye power cuts. Hello "a dribble of fog", "spits and spots of rain", and all the rest of it. The Met Office is right at the forefront of language development, worse luck. All I can say is that it's a good job our regional weathergirl has a warm occluded front.

BJ

When "spits and spots of rain" started appearing in the local forecasts, it gave me quite a start as I hadn't heard the term since my Gran died in 1968, it being a favourite of hers.

Slarti

[Clariman]

Has just said that Storm Barbara might cause power 'outages'!!!!

What happened to power cuts? Grrrrrr

I don't mind that wording. Power "cuts" could include or imply that someone makes decision to cut the power. Whereas power "outages" might imply something caused by nature rather than having human involvement.

My father was interested in both (a) correct use of language and grammar and (b) the evolution of language. He could never quite get why I thought that he couldn't have had the latter interest if people over the years didn't use language 'incorrectly'

[jfgw]

And why do they say, "weather front"? What other sort of front might a weathergirl (or boy) talk about during a forecast? Is it even an acceptable term?

It used to be cold fronts (triangles, like icicles), warm fronts (like bikini tops) and occluded fronts (and you can get warm and cold ones of those).

Why all this baby-talk?

Julian F. G. W.

[bungeejumper]

It used to be cold fronts (triangles, like icicles)

Ah yes, nothing reminds me of postwar winters as strongly as those icicles hanging off our cold fronts. Mine weren't triangular, actually, but I had an auntie who..... nah, anyway, they were all a thing of the past when central heating came along.

What other types of fronts might we be confusing these with? Storm fronts. War fronts. Offensive fronts. (Another of my aunties.) Peace fronts, competitive fronts, IKEA wardrobe panel fronts, liberation fronts, full frontal fronts, top fronts, bottom fronts, front bottom fronts.

I may have made one of those up, by the way. Any further questions?

BJ

[jfgw]

What other types of fronts might we be confusing these with? Storm fronts. War fronts. Offensive fronts. (Another of my aunties.) Peace fronts, competitive fronts, IKEA wardrobe panel fronts, liberation fronts, full frontal fronts, top fronts, bottom fronts, front bottom fronts.

Which weather forecast do you watch?

[Grumpi]

I admire Carol the Weather Lady.
She is articulate, enunciates clearly and provides a comprehensive forecast.

One thing that distracts me is her outfit.
I know my memory is poor but every day it is different even over many years it seems to me.
Has anyone every seen her in the same dress on two different days?

I assume the BBC provide her with a wardrobe allowance.
It would take more than my licence fee
What happens to her once-worn clothes I wonder.
Do they go to Oxfam perhaps?
or does she have a warehouse to store them in for wearing off camera?

[quelquod]

Yes,she's articulate and has all of these other qualities, but she is also so verbose that after her forecast I can't work out what we're actually to expect. All I want is a simple 'showers in the morning becoming dry later' or some such instead of her endless prattling about where it's coming from and why and when and if. Not that it makes much difference - ISTM that a simple 'bright day with a chance of rain' covers 90% of eventualities.

And I DO wish they'd change the colours a bit. At this time of year it's not clear if she's forecasting rain or ice.

[sg31]

All I want is a simple 'showers in the morning becoming dry later' or some such instead of her endless prattling about where it's coming from and why and when and if. Not that it makes much difference - ISTM that a simple 'bright day with a chance of rain' covers 90% of eventualities.

The forecasts that drive me mad are the ones that tell you about the weather you have had today. I know that it rained, I got wet.

[gryffron]

The forecasts that drive me mad are the ones that tell you about the weather you have had today. I know that it rained, I got wet.

They always start with that. It's a clever bit of headology. Establishes that they know what they're talking about and haven't made it ALL up.

Gryff

[Slarti]

The forecasts that drive me mad are the ones that tell you about the weather you have had today. I know that it rained, I got wet.

Last couple of days BBC local weather has been driving me mad by taking tomorrow's weather to about 4pm and then skipping to the day after, so you haven't a clue as to when the rain is going to leave/arrive and so don't know the best time to travel.

Slarti

[sg31]

The forecasts that drive me mad are the ones that tell you about the weather you have had today. I know that it rained, I got wet.

Last couple of days BBC local weather has been driving me mad by taking tomorrow's weather to about 4pm and then skipping to the day after, so you haven't a clue as to when the rain is going to leave/arrive and so don't know the best time to travel.

Slarti

If I need to know when it's likely to rain and how hard I use this site....

http://www.netweather.tv/index.cgi?action=radar;sess=

It doesn't take long to decide which way the rain is moving and the colours show intensity.

It's better than listening to BBC weather reporters drivel on.

[macbrains]

Well I don't care what you lot say - I think she's gorgeous!