20 April 2017
Do you live in Europe? If you do, you probably already know that it's frigid outside--especially for mid APRIL!
As this article from EuroNews says, a cold spell has been affecting Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, Romania, and Ukraine! Many people are worried that the low temperatures will damage crops. As the author says, "The cold spell could bite until the middle of next week."
Brr! When English speakers discuss cold weather, they tend to emphasize, even exaggerate, just how cold it is. Usually, they do this because they want to communicate their surprise or displeasure about the bad weather and low temperatures.
If you too are interested in being able to express yourself in English when talking about the weather, please read on. You'll learn about the terminology that people use when discussing cold weather. We hope that this will help you accurately describe what you are feeling when the mercury starts to fall!
Cold weather vocabulary:
frigid: Very cold or freezing temperatures
"I'm not going out there! It's frigid!"
crops: Although this is not a cold weather word per se, farmers are concerned about their crops at this time of the year because they are still small and vulnerable. Crops are plants that farmers grow for food.
"Farmers grow crops for other people to eat."
cold spell: A cold spell is a short period of cold weather.
"Don't worry. The cold spell won't last long."
bite: Bite has a second meaning when it's used in this sense. When people are cold they say that is is "biting" them. ["biting cold" is also frequently used in this sense]
"The cold weather is biting this morning!"
brr: This is a sound that people make when they are cold.
"Brr. I'm freezing. Turn on the heater!"
The mercury is falling: This is an idiom, which means that it is getting cold.
"I tend to stay insdie and relax when the mercury falls."
What other terms do you know related to spring and cold weather? Let us know!