I demand a refund.
According to several trusted sources, we London-dwellers were supposed to brace ourselves for a mighty blizzard today, Thursday.
Flights cancelled from Heathrow in anticipation. Weather warnings. Traffic announcements which warned motorists only to make journeys which were absolutely necessary. Prepare yourselves for something resembling a scene from The Day After Tomorrow.
Er.
Unless the official sources (media, you know who you are) were talking about London, Ontario (current weather - bit chilly, down to -8°C or so tonight, some snow on the ground, bloke in red hat looking at the telescope section of the store offering the webcam linked there), then they may have overreacted just a tad.
Yes, I know that elsewhere in the country, kittens have been stranded and children unable to go to school. Yes, I’m well aware that your journey to/from x was disrupted by a thick coating of fluffy stuff on the Pennines/M1/high street/Andes.
Nevertheless, we were promised snow, and what did we get instead? Rain.
These are fundamentally not the same. For the purposes of easy identification, allow me to highlight some key characteristics of the two, and the differences thereof:
| Snow | Rain |
| Flutters gently to the ground, whirling in silent eddies | Falls splashily to the ground, wetly |
| Makes everything white | Makes everything wet |
| Great for making snowmen | Rubbish for making snowmen |
| Only falls in cold weather | Falls all year round |
| Chilly | Damp |
| Natural habitat for penguins, polar bears, arctic foxes | Natural habitat for ducks, Londoners |
| Excellent skiing opportunities | Rather poor skiing opportunities |
| Lovers marvel at the sight of snowflakes settling on their beloved’s eyelashes, whirl each other around in the whitening scene | Lovers sprint for cover under shop awnings, a bit damp |
| Frequently seen on the front of scenic & festive cards | Frequently seen on the weather forecast for London, England |
Now then, BBC weather, let’s not be making this kind of amateurish forecasting mistake again, shall we, hmmm?
Update, the next morning:
OK, it’s been snowing overnight, and my bit of London is now covered in a very thin layer of white stuff. I take back some of the above, in light of this. However, I won’t be truly convinced of the strength of the weather warnings for London until I need to wear snowshoes to work.
