Seasons Weather Metaphors 101
India lies in the tropical zone and snow is typically unheard of other than in a few northern states near the Himalayas. My first experience with snow was in America. The first time I woke up to a snow covered morning, I was awestruck at the beauty of what seemed like a winter wonderland. The first few winters were tough but gradually I got acclimatized.
Driving in snow was a different story. I was terrified of skidding but had no choice but to drive to work during winter. I could never understand why some drivers drove comfortably and looked less susceptible to skidding until I learnt about front wheel drive and all wheel drive cars .Even today, I occasionally get tailgated during a wintry evening because of how slow I drive.
Naming of Winter Storms
How does the media come up with names for winter storms or blizzards? Snowmageddon and Snowpocalypse (A blend of the words Snow and Armageddon and Apocalypse respectively) came to be widely used in the news and social media after a series of severe winter storms hit the mid-Atlantic in 2012 . These terms have biblical connotations that generically represent end of the world scenarios and perhaps appropriately justify the hype and panic that is intended with their usage. Snowzilla was the blizzard of 2016 that affected Washington, D. C. The Weather Channel thought it would be more fun to give winter storms a name so you could follow twitter hashtags for the storm and started the practice of naming winter storms in 2012 based on population and area affected. Unlike naming of hurricanes, not everyone is in favor of this unofficial naming and the National Weather Service does not follow this practice.
Milk, Eggs and Bread
Forecast of a snowstorm inevitably leads to the frenzied rush at local grocery stores to stockpile milk, eggs and bread. I never quite figured out what was special about them versus non-perishable items like canned beans and soup. All three ingredients used in making french toast. While no on is exactly certain of the reason behind this ritual, there are some interesting psychological theories as quoted in these news articles. Interestingly this has led to the use of French Toast Forecast and Bread Meter on media when describing the severity of winter weather.
Christmas
Winter is also time for the most magical holiday celebrated in America, Christmas. Christmas is commonly associated with snow and ice. Over the years, I started enjoying popular Christmas Carols such as Bing Crosby’s (I’m dreaming of a white Christmas), Dean Martin’s Let it Snow Let it Snow Let it Snow, Frosty the Snowman , Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, Twelve days of Christmas . I grew as excited as the rest of America in hoping that I would awaken to a snow covered Christmas morning.
During the first couple of years, Christmas season was simply a time to enjoy a couple of days off from work. But after I had my first child, my family started celebrating Christmas, hanging up stockings and wrapping presents under the Christmas tree. We didn’t want our kids to go to school and feel isolated because everyone else was talking about Christmas traditions. Over the years, I started to understand Christmas traditions. According to a tradition, it is bad luck to refuse a kiss under the mistletoe which is generally hung under doorways during the season. After the kiss, the couple is to pluck a berry from under the mistletoe. Setting out milk and cookies for Santa Claus was another tradition that we followed, not knowing that it is also commonplace to leave carrots for Santa’s reindeer.
I warned my toddler to behave himself or he would end up on Santa’s naughty list. After my second son was born, we bought a couple of elves. One night, my younger son was talking to the elves and asking them why they hadn’t moved. It was around that time that I realized the significance of Elf–On-The-Shelf and the legend where it lands in the house after Thanksgiving and reports on the child’s behavior back to Santa Claus at North Pole after a month of observing the child’s behavior on whether he has been nice or naughty.
Groundhog Day
Once the magic of Christmas and New Year fades, winter does seem to get a little bit unbearable. The lights and decorations on the streets are gone and you start wondering how far away spring is. Groundhog Day is a popular tradition celebrated every year on February second. A weather prognosticating groundhog in the city of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania predicts how long winter will last based on his shadow.
The 1993 comedy film titled Groundhog Day is based on a TV weatherman covering the annual Groundhog Day event who gets caught in a time loop. The same day repeats again and again in his life. I highly recommend watching it to understand why the term Groundhog Day is also used to represent a recurring situation.
It took me many more winters to completely understand the winter weather terminology on radio forecasts such as black ice, blizzard , a whiteout, freezing rain , Nor’easter and a Polar Vortex.
Winter terminology and idioms
Snow and winter have also led to many idioms and phrases in common use. You may understandably be mistaken into thinking that a Snowbird is a bird that lives in the snow. However, it is commonly used to refer to elderly people who migrate to Florida during winter. The slang Snowflake is used in politics in a negative connotation for left-leaning people and young adults that are more easily offended than their elder generation.
Being snowed under means to be overwhelmed with work and other responsibilities. When I’m not snowed under , I love to write. Pure as the driven snow means to be morally good. Driven snow is snow that has not been trodden upon and is clean and pure.
As a snowball rolls and grows bigger if you throw it down a hill , so is the idiom for snowball or snowball effect which means that something rapidly grows out of control. Situations sometimes snowball into crisis if appropriate action is not taken at the right time. A snowball’s chance in hell means to have very little chance. Do you think there is a snowball’s chance in hell that this blog post will go viral?
Snowball’s chance in hell means that something has little to no chance of succeeding. There’s a snowball’s chance in hell that this blog post will go viral.