Weather Descriptions

Philadelphia Eagle · Post by **Philadelphia Eagle** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 7:45 am

This morning our local radio station - KYW1060 - broadcast their usual weather report.

Now this station, like many others, takes its weather info from AccuWeather which provides accurate and detailed weather reports. KYW1060, in turn, provides an excellent service - broadcasting full weather details every 30 minutes on a 24/7 basis. They provide high, low and half-hourly temperatures, humidity levels throughout the day, wind speed and direction, ocean temperature, barometric pressure, 'actual feel readings' and so on - infact all the info you need.

But then, having done all this they give a brief description of how the weather will be in the area. It is this description which often baffles me.

At 6.30am this morning the report read as follows:

Temperature - 78 degrees

Wind speed and direction - 1 mph from the south-east.

Pressure - 1030mb

Ocean temperature - 68 degrees

Humidity - 75 %

'Actual feel' - 78 degrees.

Today's high temperature - 91 degrees at 5.00pm.

Chance of thunderstorms - 20%

Now you could be excused, having listened to all that, for thinking that it's going to be another hot, humid day.

However, the radio station meterologist finished his piece by summarizing the day ahead by saying "it will be quite warm again"

To me - "quite warm" is something of an understatement given the conditions.

He went further and said it would be "quite warm" tomorrow and the next day and every day for the 10-day outlook. After that, it was expected to become "hot".

So intrigued was I by this description that I called the radio station for an explanation of their terms.

'Well', the man on the other end said, 'we have standarized descriptions for the sake of continuity'

'What are the standarized descriptions?', I asked.

The answer was as follows;

Temperature in the 70s - "mild"

Temperature in the 80s to 91 - "warm" or sometimes"quite warm" depending on humidity levels.

Temperatures from 92- 100 "hot"

Temperatures in excess of 100 "very hot"

So there we have it.

As an addendum , just after my call to the radio station the phone rang again. This time it was friends from England who are arriving in a few days to spend part of their vacation with us

'What's the weather like with you', they asked. 'We're really looking forward to your lovely sunny, warm days'

I replied truthfully that the weather report for the time they would be with us said that it would be "quite warm"

'That sounds lovely' they said 'and what sort of temperatures can we expect?'

'It'll be around 90 or a little above' I said.

There was a silence at the other end and then ' did you say 90 ?'

'I did' I replied.

But that's not 'quite warm! - that's bl**dy hot!' came the response.

So that's two of us who disagree with the radio station's description of our weather!

john8pies · Post by **john8pies** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 7:47 am

They`ll probably continue to use their definitions, regardless of "WEATHER" you and the other listeners agree or not (ouch!)

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 8:15 am

Well, I'm down a little south of you in Baltimore, and getting close to noon, and it is a "warm" 86 and humid, awaiting those T-storms later on. It is a little more then warm here. :-6

capt_buzzard · Post by **capt_buzzard** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 8:42 am

Dublin,Fine but do bring a brolly. More Rain:mad:

abbey · Post by **abbey** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 11:19 am

7.20pm here in north west England and the sun is shining, lovely! :-6

Philadelphia Eagle · Post by **Philadelphia Eagle** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 12:22 pm

The sun may indeed be shining, Abbey but that doesn't tell us what the weather is really like. What is the temperature, the relative humidity, the wind speed and direction? And what about ocean temperatures and 'feel factors'? Tune into your local TV or radio station and give us a report.

When I spoke to my friends from England this morning who are about to visit us they said the weather there was "bl**dy awful" and they were looking forward to some sun and heat.

The problem in Pennsylvania in June is that they may get a bit more of both than they bargained for!

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 12:25 pm

http://www.scotsman.com/weather.cfm

tis all relative-temperatures in the 70's here is a heat wave! The temperatures are in centigrade.

Philadelphia Eagle · Post by **Philadelphia Eagle** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 12:34 pm

gmc wrote: http://www.scotsman.com/weather.cfm

tis all relative-temperatures in the 70's here is a heat wave! The temperatures are in centigrade.

Thanks for the link, GMC.

Wow! that looks a bit chilly for June!

abbey · Post by **abbey** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 12:39 pm

Philadelphia Eagle wrote: The sun may indeed be shining Abbey but that doesn't tell us what the weather is really like. What is the temperature, the relative humidity, the wind speed and direction? And what about ocean temperatures and 'feel factors'? Tune into your local TV or radio station and give us a report.

When I spoke to my friends who are about to visit us this morning they sa Lon, dunno what wind speed is, dont have an ocean, but local news says..

Tonight:

DRY

Partly cloudy, some clear spells.

clearer later, with mist in places.

wind:light and variable.

Min temp; 6 to 8c

Tomorrow:

Sunny throughout the day,

becoming warm by the afternoon.

Wind: Light and variable.

Max temp:17 to 19c, min;10 to 12c

BabyRider · Post by **BabyRider** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 1:31 pm

Here's my local forecast, hour by hour. Of course, they are never right, (I call them "weather-guessers") so this is apt to change at any time. Really windy right now, too! I love the breeze blowing through my house!

http://www.weather.com/activities/other ... undeclared

Philadelphia Eagle · Post by **Philadelphia Eagle** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 1:49 pm

abbey wrote: Lon, dunno what wind speed is, dont have an ocean, but local news says..

Tonight:

DRY

Partly cloudy, some clear spells.

clearer later, with mist in places.

wind:light and variable.

Min temp; 6 to 8c

Tomorrow:

Sunny throughout the day,

becoming warm by the afternoon.

Wind: Light and variable.

Max temp:17 to 19c, min;10 to 12c

Thanks for the info, Abbey. They don't exactly drown you with detail, do they!

As GMC says, it is all realitive.

Your weather report describes night temperatures in the mid-40s! and 'warm' daytime highs in the mid-60s!

That would be described as 'very cool' here!

abbey · Post by **abbey** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 2:02 pm

Philadelphia Eagle wrote: Thanks for the info, Abbey. They don't exactly drown you with detail, do they!

As GMC says, it is all realitive.

Your weather report describes night temperatures in the mid-40s! and 'warm' daytime highs in the mid-60s!

That would be described as 'very cool' here!Here's the weather forcast for my home town for the next week.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?id=2919

lady cop · Post by **lady cop** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 2:07 pm

check this out :-6 ..........http://www.fla-keys.com/weather.htm

capt_buzzard · Post by **capt_buzzard** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 2:10 pm

Philadelphia Eagle wrote: Thanks for the info, Abbey. They don't exactly drown you with detail, do they!

As GMC says, it is all realitive.

Your weather report describes night temperatures in the mid-40s! and 'warm' daytime highs in the mid-60s!

That would be described as 'very cool' here!I'll let you DIY Eagle www.met.ie/

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 11:36 pm

posted by philadelphia eagle

Thanks for the info, Abbey. They don't exactly drown you with detail, do they!

As GMC says, it is all realitive.

Your weather report describes night temperatures in the mid-40s! and 'warm' daytime highs in the mid-60s!

That would be described as 'very cool' here!

Pleasantly warm here.

http://www.camvista.com/scotland/edinburgh/index.php3