Why Do We Brits Always Talk About The Weather?

Pearl

Pearl

Administrator
Staff member
I've had several conversations lately with people I don't know and I'm fascinated by the fact that no matter who started the conversation we talked at length about the weather, it seems to be a stereotypical British trait, are we boring or just picking a safe subject?
 
Safe subject maybe , but our weather can be so changeable so it is a good "lead in" to a conversation. I am guessing petal that they were mostly older people that you spoke to as well. The young ones have lost the art of conversation!:cautious:
 
Safe common ground between friends or complete strangers starting conversation . With me its a safety valve to prevent blowing a gasket I get so annoyed by the Met Office cost us a fortune sure I read £390 Million a year . I have mailed them several times after getting a soaking when no rain was forecast . I am adding an extract of the response , if you are speaking to strangers or friends please feel free to use the dialogue as you see fit:-

Perhaps it will help to know that the Met Office graphics' output is derived directly from our models and there is no manual intervention to edit that data. The output is automated and a blend of many different models. Given the symbols are updated within every hour, the process also employs an element of "nowcasting" which automatically utilises the most recent available observations from across the UK and around the world.

Our computer model produces an excellent representation of the weather symbols, temperatures etc. but sometimes, through the process of averaging over a three hour time period, or averaging over an area, some of the small scale detail can be obscured. However, the forecasters can (and do) update the regional texts if the complexion of the weather significantly changes. These texts are routinely updated at 04:00 and 16:00 every day. When the symbols and the regional texts are taken together, and with an appreciation for the localised nature of weather, we believe you will gain the best possible forecast.

What I gleaned from this is that they use computer generated forecast and you must read that in conjunction with a regional forecast updated only twice a day at 4 am and 4 pm or you can stick your head out the door and check or you can find a field of cows and see what they are doing apparently all seem to have an equal chance of getting it right but the latter two don't cost millions of pounds .
 
Thank you Captain, I tend not to take much notice of forecasters, I particularly remember researching the weather the week before my wedding and was assured it was going to be autumnal but dry......... Anyone remember October 87?? The pictures in the park were particularly hilarious!
 
I hope you did not get blown away Pearl! We have a reservior near us and I remember in 87 the water spray coming over the wall it was like being at the seaside. You are right thought when friend's of our's go on holiday abroad we chat, but they alway's say what's the weather like back in the UK!
 
As said, we talk about the weather because it changes so much.

And more importantly, because it stops us from doing what we want to do.

Any planned outdoor activity can seriously be ruined by the weather.

We can't rely on it, and to get a bit of sunshine and no rain can be quite a rarity.

Everyone is so busy, and we just want a bit of decent weather in our spare time.
 
Going back a few thousand years, I wonder if the people were ruled by what the weather was doing?? Hunting was poor because the animals stayed hidden in the bad weather, farming was poor if the rain pelted down. Crops failed because of too much/ too little sun. It became the norm to check up on the weather on a particular time or day?? It thus got ingrained into our psyche!:cool::08:
 
Don't wish to rain on your parades but for once it's dry in Newcastle , please let me make it clear the like's are for comments not the fact it is raining where you are
 
Well first of all there is the Gulf Stream. If the Gulf Stream wasn't in place the weather in the UK would be totally different. And because there is the Gulf Stream there is rain, fog, and lots of grey days. In London there used to be lots of pea soup fogs, fogs that you could almost cut with a knife. Nowadays we call that smog but back then it was known as pea soup. So when thinking about English weather the main factor is the Gulf Stream.
 
What with El Nino and the Gulf Stream both changing positions each year, who can be sure of anything weatherwise?:confused:
 
dick said:
Going back a few thousand years, I wonder if the people were ruled by what the weather was doing??
Click to expand...

From the times of Up Pompeii the forecaster for everything presumably including the weather was Senna the Soothsayer , according to Lurcio " No don't she is a poor soul " so clearly the job didn't pay as well as our Met Office and TV Forecasters get paid! :08:
 
I have often noted that the local forecaster (a Met Office individual) is promising a fine day in the Rdio Leeds area. But why then have my windscreen wipers come on?

Did actually ask once and was told the forecast was true for most of the area apart from the Penniens - guess who is in the Pennines! (Apart from Clegg et al.)
 
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