Section 61
Weather

1 People say that the British always talk about the weather.
2 That’s because the weather is so changeable in the UK.
3 At greetings, they will often comment on the state of the weather.
4 For example, they may say “Hello, lovely day today” when they meet.
5 Other terms are used, of course, if the weather is different.
6 But the phrases they use maybe difficult for foreigners to understand.
7 “Weather’s taken a turn for the worse” means that the weather change from good to not so good.
8 “It’s raining cats and dogs” is a strange expression that means it is raining very heavily.
9 “A peasouper” is very thick fog; it is used because pea soup is also very thick.
10 “An Indian summer” is when it is hot and sunny later in the year then usual.
11 “Brass monkey weather” means it is very very cold.
12 This comes from the brass canon balls used on ships long ago.
13 If it was very cold, they would freeze.
14 So we say “cold enough to freeze the balls of a brass monkey”.
15 Rain ban be described as spitting, spots of rain, drizzle, light rain, showers, intermittent rain, pouring down, heavy rain or torrential, very heavy rain.
16 Wind can be describe as light, blustery or gale force.
17 Typhoons are not common in Europe, so the word maybe comes from Asia.
18 Hurricanes are like typhoons.