"Just how should I interpret "I will be a little fresher than yesterday?"

It'll be fresher.
Than yesterday
But not a lot.

If you're as used as we all are to the quick contrast between a hottish, humid, airless day and what happens when a few cooler breezes turn up afterwards, you'd have no trouble understanding. British meteorolgical terms might strike some as sloppily poetic. But they're remarkably effective ways of communicating the endless changes in our weather.

The difference between "scattered showers" and "sunny intervals with intermittent light rain" describes what's going to happen far more usefully than pseudo-accuracy like "highs of 63.7 with a 17.456% likelihood of precipiation"

I can't be doing with centigrade for hot weather.

S'easy

0-10 is brass monkeys
10-15 is cold
15-20 is cool
20-25 is warm
25-30 is hot
Above 30 isn't British and you don't go anywhere that has such antisocial temperatures

-10 and -15 routine here in winter Celsius of course means that it's colder than a witche's txx, face down in the snow in January

should have been colder than a witch's txx, in a brass brassiere face down in the snow in January"

Until I went to New England, I didn't appreciate the expression "chilled to the bone".
On my first really cold day, I thought that I had a nose full of bogies until I realised that the little hairs in my nose were freezing together.

I'd add to Josser's list.
-5 and below, Un-British and to be deplored

Listening to Magic FM (yes, I know - how sad!) a couple of weeks ago on the way to work, I heard the forecaster predict 'organised rain'. I'm dying to know what this is.....

What happened to that empire building toughness we all admire?

Did Lawrence complain about the heat in Arabia? Or Dr. Watson when dodging bullets in Afghanistan?

i've been in England during the about once a decade heat waves - heat for weeks and parks are all brown

like in 2003 (i think) where temps in 90s lingered for days

yes and talk about whining about the weather and thinking they were the British Raj in India or some such thing

Britons and the weather!

''Britons and the weather!''

Says the yank who started a thread whinging about the weather......

I was not whinging about the weather - whatever that means

I just wondered when summer would start?

Now when i get to England i do whinge about the weather - constantly, of course.

What happened to that empire building toughness we all admire?

Did Lawrence complain about the heat in Arabia? Or Dr. Watson when dodging bullets in Afghanistan? >>

good questions, stokebailey.

for the epitome of british plegm, you should see the dining scene in "Carry on up the Khyber" - a flim classic set on the north-west frontier of empire.

however, most of the time we are not, thankfully, under fire, and therefore in times of peace, the weather gives us a common enemy to unite against.

today I can report that the light showers forecast did not materialise, but the easterly wind made it cool enough to do some quite vigorous gardening.

so summer has not departed quite yet.

regards, ann

-10 cold? That's funny to me. We often get down to -40. It normally stays below -30 for a couple of months. We get snow in the middle of October and it does not disappear until the middle of April. The coldest it has been is -50 but with the windchill -65! Now that is cold! We have to plug the cars in for several months. Ick. Just thinking about it now gives me the creeps.

Then in the so-called summer it soars to 35 at times. Very little rain. I do not like the huge fluctuations and would prefer something more moderate.

Hi, Ann,

Camborne does look lovely. Let's all summer there.

With such a short summer your garden probably won't produce any ripe tomatoes, though, one of the compensations in my neck of the woods.

Hi stoke

Camborne does look lovely. Let's all summer there.>>

mmm - not sure I've ever heard Camborne described as beautiful before. it's a cornish mining town built out of [grey] granite. think northern mining town with beaches. some of the surrounding countryside is quite nice and the beaches are pretty good.

its main claim to fame is as the birthplace of Richard Trevithick, the real father of the steam engine.

Redruth [nearer to us than Camborne, but no prettier, I'm afraid] is now officially the subject of world interest, according to our local paper, the West Briton. this is due to the curfew that has been imposed upon local youths - 8pm for under 10s, 9pm for under 16s. miscreants will be taken home and where problems arise, [eg parents not being there for example] social services informed.

wow - we just made the BBC radio 4
10pm programme.

"over to our reporter in Redruth".

"anything happening out on the streets of REdruth, fred?" -

Fred - "no, not much".

well no change there, then.

regards, ann

Hi, Ann,

If we ever get out that way, we will no longer fear late night annoyances by the youth of Redruth. That was pretty much our biggest obstacle!

I used to dislike the temperatures of 96 F with 70% humidity we can typically get around here by midsummer, until I decided to become one of the people who say they like hot weather. Somehow I tricked myself into being comfortable. When I step out of frigid AC into blast of heat and sun, I now think "Ahhh... warmth." My family finds this annoying and show-offy.

Hi annhig,
I went to Cambourne and Redruth once. Was looking for some old friends as we were passing through.

They lived in Cambourne may even live there still, but not been in touch for years and years.

We camped next to one of your beaches and I attached a kite to the tent and it stayed up for a week. Windy place cornwall...lol

Oh and please use celsius, us modern minded people prefer it...lol
And Flanner, FYI Anders Celsius was Swedish.

Muck
Muck

hi stoke and muck,

on the temperature theme, the weather here is forecast as warm and sunny for the next few days -about 20C. then rain and overcast from Tuesday - which just happens to be when we're off on holiday to Iceland.

where they are forecast a HEATWAVE. whoppee!!!

regards, ann

Hopefully Camborne can provide us with good weather in the 2nd week of June next year :)

30 C hot? Not where I live.
We haven't had a high that low in weeks.

I was in Interlaken once when the temperature was around 34. It was so hot we drove to the top of the Grimsel Pass and hiked in the snow wearing short sleeves and short pants.

A man drove up with a big, beautiful Bernese Mountain dog who knew what to do. He jumped out of the car and began wallowing in the snow with great vigor. Then he started bounding around on that soft stuff like he knew what he was doing.

Talk about a happy dog. He did have an advantage with 4-paw drive and big feet.

We were in London for a couple of days in very early May and had the best weather we've ever seen there -- high 70's to low 80's F, sunny and clear. Once I heard a British weather forecast predicting "a bit cloudy with the odd bright spot." Love it!