The Language of Weather

While Twitter is abuzz (daily) with Trump’s latest gaff or sexual predators in politics and entertainment, Canadians prefer to generate their excitement via the weather. #ONStorm or #BCStorm are often trending on Twitter. It is interesting to note that the weather as an “event” is relatively new.

Growing up in rural Ontario it was frequently -20, and yet we rarely had weather alerts or winter storm warnings. It was a given that people would adjust their attire for the weather outside. We used to call a “snowstorm” – snow. Sometimes it was a snowstorm, and sometimes we had blowing snow advisories, but that language of an advisory is very different than a watch or a warning.

An advisory is meant to inform you so that you can act. It assumes that the audience is intelligent enough to come to their own conclusions about the content. Twitter with its 140 characters or the endless media cycle seems to be targeting an audience whom it believes is either too inept or too distracted to think critically without language that warms of the perils outdoors.

So, you would think that if Ontario gets #ONStorm for thunderstorms or even rain storms, we would have lots of warnings, watches, advisories etc. in Yellowknife. In fact, the opposite is true. The weather is cold, and you dress for it. No one makes a big deal about the temperature being -14, -21 or -27 it is cold, dress appropriately. Ironically it is very much like living in Grenada where I never checked the weather.

In Grenada two things were guaranteed- it would be hot, and it would rain somewhere. So, you carried an umbrella and whether it was 31 or 33 it didn’t much matter. The same is true here. Once it got below zero, it doesn’t much matter how far below zero, it is cold. My coat has a wind proof layer and a down filled layer, so I am always snuggly warm. If the wind is blowing I just add a buff (scarf) to keep the wind off my face. Some days the hood is up, some days I just need a head band to keep me warm. What I don’t need is warnings or watches to let me know how to dress.

It would seem the more stable the weather is the less you need to know about it. In Ontario you can get rain, freezing rain, snow, ice pellets, hail, frozen fog, which requires you to pay attention to the weather. However, the need to warn and watch seems a bit over the top.

Weather used to be something we could sense; and with a pool I think the kids learned how to sense the imminence of a storm. The wind picks up, the temperature drops, the sun goes away, you hear a distant rumble. While we can rely on our instincts, they have either become deadened by the iPod in our ear or the belief that someone will tell us if there is something we need to know.

Like Grenada, I am glad the boys are back to living in a place where they must make informed decisions using their eyes, their ears and even stepping out the door before deciding toque or no toque. Hopefully it enhances their critical thinking skills- because the weather here is simply stated as a fact you must apply your own meaning.