Weather Descriptions
Posted: 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!
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!