November 20th 2005 It's so cold outside you don't feel it
** update: I cannot believe it I actually wrote a post about temperatures and weather conditions (see below). What am I, a british granny? It was supposed to be one quick whack against the italian media, but I got carried away. Now I re-read the whole thing and at half of it I think: who cares?
So typical.
Well, I'll leave the entire post as it is anyway (just fading it a little), so next time I learn. Please don't read it unless you actually make some use of your big thermometer in real life.
My outdoor thermometer reads 11° C (33,8° F) right now. It is 10:30 pm. Not very interesting, uh? Still...
I was out walking in the street a while ago with my corduroy pants and jacket, I was feeling fine, invigorated, falsely sane because of the tolerable cold. Suddenly though, I realized I was surrounded by people covered with overstuffed furry overcoats and with that sorry look on the face like 'let's hope my nose tip doesn't freeze and fall!'. What was going on?
I don't have a TV, but I understood right away it was the usual 'icy weather arrived' frenzy running around on the italian mainstream media, and that right on time televisions were giving to people yet more fears and nonsense about the 'climate changing' thing.
On the web, Rebubblica.it and Corriere.it (this demonic couple of ultrapopular and crappy sources of news) both covered the issue by alerting the population that an exceptional ice storm was about to swarm, from south to north.
They even showed the same exact picture of the kind of attire you're supposed to go out with: a ridiculous semi-polar attire! (I reused the same picture on the left here: let's see how many times it can be reused before it disappears... no, seriously: what, not only they share the same lack of imagination, ideas, and true journalism, they also share the same lousy archives of pictures?)
Oh, and Ansa.it too warned the population that the "chill arrived". They didn't use the same picture though. They picked another horrible one, were two ugly figures are having their coffee and croissant outside. What is the meaning of such a trivial picture within this context, is way beyond my imagination.
All these articles anyway, cite the same low temperature of -14°C (6,8°F), taken from a mountain pass on the alps, which is very significative indeed.
However, they seem to have accomplices. As I write, accuweather.com indicates the absurd temperature of 3°C (37,4°F) in Milan. That's because the meteorologic station of Milan is likely located in Linate, outside the city and in the middle of the prairie. Big deal.
As I said, my very reliable thermometer indicates 11° C (33,8° F) right now. And we just spent another wonderful sunny day today, third of a series.
The air outside is wonderfully dry for the Milanese average, so the sensation is quite enjoyable, even exciting.
Furry overcoats are NOT needed people. They're toying with us and our eternal uncertainty, our need of feeling we are resisting against something, while we cannot resist anything.
No real ice storm is in sight. It's no Chicago here. Only a small earthquake today, which I felt indeed, but no risk involved.
We should really rule out news media from our life. We really should.
3 things have been said about It's so cold outside you don't feel it
They say “polar cold” because the winds lower the temperature are from the North. Rightly meteorologists say it’s a polar stream, but in Italy the meteorology is considered in a very low level: there’s lot of ignorance about it. Your is a very good example how the media condition the italians’ behaviours, too. Good point!
I must have lived in Southern California too long. After 1 October when temps were in the high 10s I was freezing cold and wore a heavy coat. Nice to finally see other Italians dress for a ice cold winter early in the season too!
I do agree with you though, people tend to decide if they are hot or cold,or anything for that matter, based on what reporters say.
so here I was, all intreagued at reading a post on media (as that is one of my interests and part of my work) and I got a post on the weather?? just an attempt at making you feel guilty and possibly turning into a british gran.
;-)