B2 Weather

B2 VOCABULARY: WEATHER

The Week The Sky Went Mad

PICTURE

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"Four seasons, five days."

Temperature and conditions · rain from drizzle to downpour · fog, mist, smog · extreme weather · the forecast

Listening

Speaking

A · LEAD-IN

Talking about the weather

Discuss in pairs.

1. What's the most extreme weather you've personally experienced?

2. Does your culture actually talk about the weather as much as the British supposedly do?

3. If not - what fills that role? What is your nation's safe small-talk subject?

PICTURE

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B1 / B2 · VOCABULARY

Order the thermometer, then the rain.

Coldest to hottest. Which two are unpleasant-hot? Which one means "quite cold, but fine"?

mild · freezing · boiling · chilly · below zero · warm · cool · scorching

COLDEST

HOTTEST

B2 / B3 · VOCABULARY

Rain, air and the grey things

1. Order from lightest to heaviest: pouring · drizzling · showers.

2. What exactly is humid - hot, wet, or actually raining? And damp - cold and ______?

3. Is a breeze pleasant or dangerous? What about strong winds?

4. Fog, mist or smog? ______ is thin, often in mountains or near the sea; ______ is thicker; ______ is caused by pollution, mostly in cities.

B4 · VOCABULARY

Extreme weather bingo. Match the word to the definition.

1. hail

2. lightning

3. thunder

4. blizzard

5. drought

6. flood

7. hurricane

8. heatwave

9. monsoon

a) balls of ice falling from the sky

b) the flash

c) the noise

d) snow plus violent wind

e) a long period with no rain

f) water covering everything

g) a violent tropical storm

h) a period of unusual heat

i) the rainy season in southern Asia

C · BEFORE YOU LISTEN

The week the sky went mad

Radio host Ewan interviews meteorologist Dagny Halvorsen after a chaotic week: hail in June, and that was only Thursday.

LISTEN ONCE AND ANSWER

1. What four types of extreme weather hit the region in one week?

2. What does Dagny say about the forecast for the weekend?

3. First: has your region had a week like that recently?

PICTURE

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C · TAPESCRIPT

The week the sky went mad

"Weather has always had a temper. The pattern is the story."

EWAN ...and if you're just joining us: yes, that was hail in June, no, you weren't dreaming, and here to explain the week is meteorologist Dagny Halvorsen. Dagny - what on earth happened?

DAGNY Where would you like me to start? Monday we broke a heat record - thirty-six degrees, genuinely scorching, the kind of heat where the tarmac goes soft. By Monday night, thunder and lightning like a rock concert - I counted strikes for fun and gave up at two hundred.

EWAN My dog is still under the bed.

DAGNY Your dog has excellent instincts. Tuesday, those storms dropped a month's rain in five hours. Not showers, not even pouring - a wall of water. Two rivers flooded by Wednesday morning; a colleague canoed down her own street, which I mention because she filmed it and it's magnificent.

EWAN And then Thursday. Explain Thursday. My car looked like a golf course had attacked it.

DAGNY Hail. Stones the size of walnuts. Here's the counterintuitive part: hail like that is a heat phenomenon - you need those towering hot-weather storm clouds to keep the ice bouncing up and down, growing layers, until it's heavy enough to fall. So: record heat, biblical rain, hail - and this morning, a fog so thick the airport paused for two hours. Four seasons, five days.

C · TAPESCRIPT (continued)

The week the sky went mad

EWAN Is this... normal? Be honest.

DAGNY Single events, yes - weather has always had a temper. The pattern is the story: the swings are getting wilder and quicker. Warmer air simply holds more water, so when it rains, it pours - literally. And the same stuck-weather patterns that give you a heatwave in one region park a drought next door. It's one machine. We just stand in different parts of it.

EWAN All right - the only question my listeners actually care about. Saturday. The barbecue. Yes or no?

DAGNY You want certainty from a meteorologist. Fine: tomorrow stays changeable - sunny spells, scattered showers, a fresh breeze, one of those days you dress for by carrying everything. But Saturday genuinely looks settled: clear skies, light winds, mild overnight, warm by afternoon. Sunday even better.

EWAN Dagny, if you're wrong-

DAGNY If I'm wrong, Ewan, I'll be wrong confidently, which is the tradition of my profession. Bring the sausages in if you hear thunder.

D · COMPREHENSION

Number the week 1-5 in order, then answer 6 and 7.

1. ______ hail the size of walnuts

2. ______ record heat

3. ______ thick fog at the airport

4. ______ rivers flooding

5. ______ a night of thunder and lightning

6. Why is giant hail described as a "heat phenomenon"?

7. What is Dagny's actual forecast for Saturday? Give three details.

E · LANGUAGE FOCUS

Forecast collocations and fine distinctions

1. Match adjective to noun: heavy · strong · thick · clear · settled · changeable · bright · icy + rain / winds / fog / skies / weather / roads / sunny spells. (Note: heavy rain but strong winds - never the reverse.)

2. What's the difference between It's pouring and There are showers? Between changeable and settled weather?

3. Degrees of complaint: put chilly · freezing · below zero in the mouth of a British person in October, in December, and in February.

4. Dagny says "when it rains, it pours" and means it literally. What does the idiom normally mean?

F1 · CONTROLLED PRACTICE

Complete the forecast.

Use: bright · changeable · clear · heavy · icy · settled · strong · sunny · thick.

1. Tonight, temperatures will fall below zero, with ______ fog forming in the valleys and ______ roads by dawn - take care driving.

2. The morning will start cold but ______, with ______ skies and some ______ spells.

3. Through the afternoon, expect ______ winds on the coast and a band of ______ rain moving in from the west.

4. The outlook for the week remains ______, but by Friday things should become more ______, with high pressure building.

F2 · CONTROLLED PRACTICE

Choose the correct option.

1. It's not raining hard - just drizzling / pouring.

2. Thirty-eight degrees today. Absolutely freezing / boiling.

3. We couldn't see the mountains for the mist / smog - beautiful, ghostly stuff.

4. The city air was grey with mist / smog again; they've told people not to drive.

5. There's a lovely cool breeze / blizzard off the sea this evening.

6. First the thunder / lightning flashed, then the thunder / lightning arrived three seconds later.

7. After two years of drought / flood, the reservoirs are nearly empty.

8. It's quite mild / scorching for January - I didn't even need gloves.

9. The monsoon / heatwave arrives in June and the streets become rivers.

10. Hail / Showers dented every car on the street. The insurance companies wept.

G · FREER PRACTICE

The forecast duel

In pairs, script a 60-second TV weather forecast for an imaginary week of absurd-but-plausible weather in your region.

• Minimum: two temperature words, two rain words, one extreme event, three forecast adjectives.

• Perform it with full weather-presenter energy. Pointing at an invisible map is mandatory.

• The class votes for Most Convincing and Most Catastrophic.

• Homework (optional): write "The week the sky went mad" for your own town (100-130 words), real or invented. Twelve target items minimum.

PICTURE

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TEACHER'S REFERENCE · HIDE OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key

B1 below zero -> freezing -> chilly -> cool -> mild -> warm -> boiling -> scorching. Unpleasantly hot: boiling, scorching. "Quite cold but fine": chilly (cool is often neutral or pleasant - worth the discussion).

B2 drizzling -> showers -> pouring. Humid = hot and wet air, not actually raining. Damp = cold and slightly wet. A breeze = a pleasant light wind.

B3 mist (thin) · fog (thicker) · smog (pollution).

B4 1 hail · 2 lightning · 3 thunder · 4 blizzard · 5 drought · 6 flood · 7 hurricane · 8 heatwave · 9 monsoon.

C GIST Record heat, thunderstorms and lightning, flooding rain, and hail - plus thick fog on the Friday. Saturday: settled, with clear skies, light winds, a mild night and a warm afternoon.

D Order: record heat 1 · thunder and lightning 2 · rivers flooding 3 · hail 4 · fog 5. 6 Giant hail needs towering hot-weather storm clouds to keep the ice suspended, bouncing and growing in layers. 7 Clear skies, light winds, mild overnight and warm by afternoon.

E 1 heavy rain · strong winds · thick fog · clear skies · settled or changeable weather · icy roads · bright or sunny spells. 2 Pouring = continuous heavy rain right now; showers = intermittent. Changeable = unstable; settled = stable high pressure. 3 October: chilly. December: freezing. February: below zero. 4 The idiom means troubles arrive all at once.

F1 thick / icy · bright / clear / sunny · strong / heavy · changeable / settled.

F2 1 drizzling · 2 boiling · 3 mist · 4 smog · 5 breeze · 6 lightning / thunder · 7 drought · 8 mild · 9 monsoon · 10 Hail.