# What do you think of first when you think of "Weather"?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-first-when-you-think-of-weather/354324
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [April 26, 2006, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-first-when-you-think-of-weather/354324 "2006-04-26T17:48:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2006, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-first-when-you-think-of-weather/354324/1 "2006-04-26T17:48:01Z")
Which of these phenomena do you most equate with the term Weather:
1. Precipitation
2. Temperature
3. Cloud cover
4. Wind strength
5. Air quality
6. Barometric pressure
7. Storms in general
8. Hurricanes
9. Thunderstorms
10. Tornadoes
11. Drought
12. Floods
13. something altogether different (please specify)
Or is your concept of “weather” a blend of most if not all of the above terms/concepts?
How often do you go to the Weather Channel or some other broadcast source during the course of the day?
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2006, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-first-when-you-think-of-weather/354324/2 "2006-04-26T17:54:10Z")
Here in Eastern Ontario, Canada it’s all about temperature and precipitation. There is no other weather.
I need my weather report fix daily.
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### Author:  [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2006, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-first-when-you-think-of-weather/354324/3 "2006-04-26T18:03:31Z")
Temperature and cloud coverage, and then of course, thunderstorms and tornados.
I don’t watch the weather channel, but I occasionally watch the weather on the news or something.
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### Author:  [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2006, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-first-when-you-think-of-weather/354324/4 "2006-04-26T18:12:08Z")
For me it would be 1,2,3,4,6,7 (which tends to cover 8,9,10 & 12) plus the synoptic picture (location of lows, highs and fronts) and forecasts of convective activity.
I never see the Weather Channel, but I check internet sources like Unisys and NOAA daily.
It’s hard to see how any one (or just a few) of the items on the list could “equate” to weather - sort of like saying that ice cream equates to food.
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2006, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-first-when-you-think-of-weather/354324/5 "2006-04-26T18:27:37Z")
> [@Xema](#):
>
> It’s hard to see how any one (or just a few) of the items on the list could “equate” to weather - sort of like saying that ice cream equates to food.
I understand your point and perhaps the OP wasn’t as pointed as it could have been. Maybe it could be better presented as:
When somebody says something like “We’re in for some weather” or “Isn’t the weather great today?” what do you most readily relate to?
The aggregate of conditions will work only some of the time, I suspect. But when we hear about “bad weather” I think we’re more apt to focus on just a few aspects whereas “good weather” probably means nothing out of the ordinary in any of the listed attributes.
I was just wanting to get input on what the term “weather” means to others.
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### Author:  [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2006, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-first-when-you-think-of-weather/354324/6 "2006-04-26T18:30:52Z")
Weather to me evokes thoughts of temperature combined with what the sky looks like. Pretty simplistic point of view.
And I watch the Weather Channel a couple of times per week. More, if we’re having “bad” weather.
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-first-when-you-think-of-weather/354324/7 "2006-04-26T18:50:13Z")
1. Precipitation
2. Temperature
3. Cloud cover
4. Wind strength
5. Storms in general
6. Thunderstorms
As I was taught in high school, “Climate is what you expect; weather is what you get.”
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### Author:  [@cruel\_butterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cruel_butterfly)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-first-when-you-think-of-weather/354324/8 "2006-04-26T18:58:25Z")
1. Something altogether different
I think of the great silly lengths my husband goes to in order to not miss each _pre-recorded_ segment of the exact same forecast each morning even if it means interrupting a conversation we’re having to dash in front of the TV while holding up an outstretched hand to signal his need for absolute silence from anyone who happens to be near 😉
You ought to see his forlorn act when he gets home too late to catch the evening weather report.
We live in the high-desert. We haven’t had measurable rain for over six months. It’s hot in the daytime and cool at night. What else is there to know?
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2006, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-first-when-you-think-of-weather/354324/9 "2006-04-26T19:07:21Z")
> [@cruel butterfly](#):
>
> 1. Something altogether different
>
> I think of the great silly lengths my husband goes to in order to not miss each _pre-recorded_ segment of the exact same forecast each morning even if it means interrupting a conversation we’re having to dash in front of the TV while holding up an outstretched hand to signal his need for absolute silence from anyone who happens to be near 😉
>
> You ought to see his forlorn act when he gets home too late to catch the evening weather report.
>
> We live in the high-desert. We haven’t had measurable rain for over six months. It’s hot in the daytime and cool at night. What else is there to know?
Priceless! Maybe he’s holding out for the Great Flood which is sure to come when he’s not looking. I haven’t laughed as much in a long time, **cruel butterfly**. Thank you for making my day. I’ll pray for rain for you and your husband.
Maybe y’all need to consider moving to Tennessee? Last night while we were intently watching House, the local Fox News announcer busted in to tell us about some “severe thunderstorm warnings” in counties 200 miles away. They never made it to our area and we missed five minutes of House. Wanna swap?
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2006, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-first-when-you-think-of-weather/354324/10 "2006-04-26T19:35:30Z")
Hee hee, my dad is totally like that. We’ll be _outside_, like _in the weather_, and he’ll run in to catch Local on the 8’s. Look, it’s hot, it isn’t raining, there’s a cloud.
To me, when I think of “how’s the weather” I think precipitation and temperature, and then hazardous conditions.
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### Author:  [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-first-when-you-think-of-weather/354324/11 "2006-04-26T20:52:30Z")
> [@cruel butterfly](#):
>
> I think of the great silly lengths my husband goes to in order to not miss each _pre-recorded_ segment of the exact same forecast each morning even if it means interrupting a conversation we’re having to dash in front of the TV …
Perhaps you should introduce him to this interesting new fad known as “the Internet.”
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### Author:  [@cruel\_butterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cruel_butterfly)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-first-when-you-think-of-weather/354324/12 "2006-04-26T21:10:48Z")
> [@Zeldar](#):
>
> Priceless! Maybe he’s holding out for the Great Flood which is sure to come when he’s not looking. I haven’t laughed as much in a long time, **cruel butterfly**. Thank you for making my day. I’ll pray for rain for you and your husband.
>
> Maybe y’all need to consider moving to Tennessee? Last night while we were intently watching House, the local Fox News announcer busted in to tell us about some “severe thunderstorm warnings” in counties 200 miles away. They never made it to our area and we missed five minutes of House. Wanna swap?
Perhaps it would interest you to know that he also has an alarm clock with a built-in weather radio function.
That computerized monotone humanoid voice is the soundtrack of my nightmares.
He’s _obsessed_ with the weather. Strangely, he never watches the Weather Channel; he only likes to hear local weather.
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### Author:  [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-first-when-you-think-of-weather/354324/13 "2006-04-26T21:25:54Z")
I think of cloud cover and precipitation first…I want to know if it’s sunny or rainy before I start thinking about whether it is 76 or 86.
I hardly ever think of wind strength or barometric pressure. Air quality gets nary a glance (I’m lucky enough not to have allergies) and the storms and stuff fall under cloud cover for me.
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### Author:  [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2006, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-first-when-you-think-of-weather/354324/14 "2006-04-26T21:57:47Z")
I pretty much don’t have any serious thoughts about “weather.”
I am concerned with it it’s raining or not, or (on assignments out of Florida) whether it’s snowing or not, but that’s about it.
I’m not as bad as some of my co-workers back in the early 1980-1990s, though:
F-4 Pilot: “Gravity check!”
Weapons Systems Operator: “We have gravity.”
Pilot: “Weather check!”
WSO: “We have weather.”
Pilot: “Sanity check!”
WSO: “Negative on sanity.”
Pilot: “Roger that, we are go! Starting number one…”
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### Author:  [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-first-when-you-think-of-weather/354324/15 "2006-04-26T22:31:51Z")
I think (really) of Zawinul, Shorter, Pastorius et al… :rolleyes:
Then once I’ve wrestled my free-associative tendencies to the ground, I think of tornadoes/severe thunderstorms. They comprise the most likely “weather” in these parts (Kentucky).
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### Author:  [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2006, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-first-when-you-think-of-weather/354324/16 "2006-04-26T22:35:50Z")
Rain, and how desperately we need some.
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### Author:  [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2006, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-first-when-you-think-of-weather/354324/17 "2006-04-27T08:23:31Z")
I was in the hospital. The hour was late and things were pretty quiet. The TV was on just so there would be some noise in the room. The King’s Singers, a male acappella sextet, sang a carefully arranged version of _Stormy Weather._
I have never been swept with such loneliness and homesickness before. All I could think about was my husband and how much I wanted to be with him. _“Since my man and I ain’t together, keeps rainin’ all the time…”_
And that’s honestly the first thing that I thought of when I saw your subject heading in late, late hours.
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### Author:  [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2006, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-first-when-you-think-of-weather/354324/18 "2006-04-27T11:27:28Z")
Clouds. It’s all clouds.