jillgoes

jillgoes

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Stop Talking About the Weather!

Frozen fog
Usually I absolutely hate reading others' blogs that contain a lot of commentary about the weather.  In fact, sometimes I just don't understand why weather is such a large part of people's conversations every day.

I can even remember as a young girl wondering why the older folks thought it was so interesting to discuss the heat, the chance of precipitation, the horrors of snow.  Didn't they have anything better in their lives to talk about?

Now I'm one of the old folks, and believe it or not, I still wonder why weather consumes folks' thoughts and communication so much.

More frozen fog
The fact is - everyone has weather.  Most areas have seasonal changes.  It has been like this since the beginning of time, yet I read blog after blog, day after day, in which that is the main topic about which bloggers are writing.  I start to think some of them don't have much of a life if the weather is all they have to talk about.

And then, the reality is, your weather does not affect me.  Nor are you probably interested in or affected by my weather.

So, why do we talk about it so much?

To me, acceptable weather blogging would be any of the following:

"It was a beautiful, sunny day here in _____, so we went and....."
"Heavy winds kept us from our plans to parasail, so instead we ......"
"We were kept inside by reports of a possible tornado, so tomorrow...."
"We shoveled the snow that fell overnight, then went on our way to explore....."
"We were able to hold on tightly to the pillars under the bridge, so we weren't swept away by the monsoon...."
"Although the roof of our house left us, the storm didn't harm our bodies, and so all is good...."

You get my point, I hope.  A brief one sentence or part of one sentence reference, but that's all.  Unless, of course, it is something way more dramatic and life changing.  Most people are probably interested more in news of a tsunami than news of a slight drizzle.

Acceptable weather blogging, in my book, does not include talk about what the predictions are, what the weather looks like out the window, what clothing will have to be worn, how the weather is changing throughout the day, and what the report is for the next day.

Frozen fog on our berry bush
As I said, everyone has weather, and those kinds of reports are, frankly, boring.

Now, with all of that ranting done and under my belt, I'm going to break my own rule and talk about a weather phenomenon that we experienced here overnight, and which I had never encountered before.

Frozen fog was the prediction overnight, and there were warnings to take care, that it can be a dangerous situation.

I looked it up and learned a bit about frozen fog.  When temperatures at ground level drop to or below freezing, the water droplets making up fog often freeze on contact.  It's similar to frost, but it starts as fog.

It's both beautiful and deadly.

Beautiful on the trees and plants; deadly for motorists on the slippery roads.

Will I be talking about it all day?  No.
Was it exquisitely beautiful this morning?  Yes.
Will it change any plans I had made for today?  Nah.

Have a great day, friends.  There's so much more to this life and the next than just the weather.

9 comments:

  1. I agree.
    Unfortunately, we (Canadians) tend to talk a little too much about the weather. It's a big country, so it can be crazy different from one end to the other. I get particularly annoyed with the "one cactus looks like another" type of blogging.
    Just give it up.
    Which is not to say that every blog entry should be a rivetting little novella, but there are limits.
    It's too bad in a way that there's no way of measuring just how much of a blog a reader actually gets through. I mean, there are "out clicks", but that doesn't hold much value. I want to know, did you read to the end? Or did you get bored?
    Speaking for myself, I have been known to skip on down to the end.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comments Bob. I, too, often scan a blog and skip to the end.

      Delete
  2. I agree about all the weather chatter, but the simple fact is that Flying, RVing and boating all involve a close watch on weather. Since I have spent my adult life mostly doing those three hobbies, I am constantly am aware of the weather. I do not generally write about the weather in my blog though:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Of course with those types of activities weather can have a great effect. Being watchful is those cases is prudent. Blogging about it every day is a different issue.

      Delete
  3. As a teacher winter weather can affect our schedule quite a bit. But, I try not to blog about it too much! lol

    ReplyDelete
  4. Don't you love those no school snow days? I always did.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I agree with you about the weather talk on blogs, Jill, and I know I've fallen into that weather chat myself lately so it's a good reminder to me to "cool it".

    However, it was hot (82F) and sunny again in Palms Springs today!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I will admit I'm fairly jealous of your warm temperatures and beautiful park. I'm glad you're enjoying yourself there.

      Delete
  6. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete