We love to talk about the weather .
It's too hot, it's too cold, it's too windy - we're all guilty of moaning a bit, come rain or shine, but sometimes when we watch or read the weather reports it can be a bit confusing as to what exactly is going on.
Finding out the weather forecast can bring about a number of new words or phrases to add to our ever-growing meteorological dictionary.
Some terminology states the obvious while others sound far more complex. Read on to become a walking weather encyclopaedia.
Could it snow in Surrey?
Arctic Weather Bomb
An arctic weather bomb is an unusually powerful winter storm which brings snow, ice and strong winds.
It is also known as a snow hurricane.
Atlantic Superstorm
A superstorm is a term used to denote a large and destructive storm without another distinct classification in meteorology, such as a hurricane or blizzard.
Blood Rain
This is the term used for rain carrying sand from deserts, causing the rain to look a reddish colour when it starts to fall.
Once it dries off, a thin layer of dust is left.
This particularly happens when storms in the Sahara Desert take place.
Cyclonic Block
A spell of low pressure which stays in the same area for a number of days and causes prolonged rainfall and showers.
This happens whenever the jet stream travels around the low pressure instead of carrying it away.
El Niño
An irregularly occurring and complex series of climatic changes affecting the Pacific region which characterises unusually warm water off Ecuador.
Effects can cause droughts in Australasia, more rain in parts of South America and warmer weather in the UK.
Freezing Fog
Freezing fog forms in the same way as normal fog, but in freezing conditions - of course!
This happens in winter when the land cools overnight under clear skies forming the fog.
As a result of the fog it reduces the air's ability to hold moisture and causes water vapour to condense into tiny water droplets.
The supercooled water droplets will form into feathery ice crystals whenever it touches a surface - this is called rime.
Indian Summer
A common weather term used when unusually dry and warm weather conditions happen in the autumn.
Line Convection
A narrow belt of around 5km long with a restricted rainband which occurs on some cold fronts where the warm air is rising.
This usually travels from west to east in the UK.
Polar Front
This is an area where cold polar air mass meets warm tropical air masses.
The line between these two can be thousands of miles long with contrasting temperatures.
Polar Vortex
This is a large area of low pressure and cold air surrounding both of the earth's poles.
Radiation Fog
This usually occurs in winter when the cooling of land overnight by thermal radiation cools the air close to the surface.
This reduces the ability of the air to hold moisture, allowing condensation and fog to occur. They usually disappear after sunrise as the ground warms.
Saharan Dust
This is a mixture of sand and dust from the Sahara Desert and reaches the UK.
It happens as strong winds travel towards Africa's western shore and are carried in a northerly direction towards the UK.
Spanish Plume
This is a weather pattern where a plume of warm air moves from the Sahara to Europe giving rise to severe thunderstoms.
Sudden Stratospheric Warming
This begins 50km up in the atmosphere where a disturbance begins to disrupt the jet stream to the point where it goes in the opposite direction.
This can cause a sudden drop in temperature and colder conditions in the UK.
Supercell storm
This is one of the four major storm types.
This happens by a deep persistently rotating updraft in the atmosphere and can dominate the local weather up to 20 miles away.
These are also known as rotating thunderstorms too.
Thundersnow
Simply put - where snowfall is accompanied by thunder and lightning!
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