IT’S no small talk when it comes to the weather here. In fact, it is so serious that broadsheets like The New York Times devote one page on the topic every day and bloggers write nothing else but the weather.
Last week, when the mercury went up abnormally high this winter season, the subject was all that people could talk about.
Normal January temperature should hover around 2°C but last Saturday, it hit a peak of 22°C. New Yorkers were scandalised.
Where’s winter, they wondered. Others made sardonic comments about “back in those days when we had winter.”
This wacky winter, as the tabloids called it, evoke both applause and alarm from the Americans.
“I haven’t had a chance to wear the sweaters that I bought during the Christmas sale,” a staff at the Borders bookshore complained to his colleague.
But his co-worker disliked getting frozen so the warm weather was delightful news to her.
For her, it was a winter of content. “The biting cold will come soon enough.”
She was quite right. By Wednesday, it turned frosty and New York experienced its first snow of the season, albeit a mere 15-minute flurry, which meteorologists said was too little to measure.
News reports pointed out that here in New York, the last time that snow came so late was on Jan 4, 1878. That means 129 years ago.
Global warming got the most blame so far. Others accused El Nino. The weather guys had a more plausible explanation, which they attributed to an unseasonable air mass that was further warmed by strong winds.
“Weather anomalies are constantly occurring across the globe. The warmth in northeast United States was much remarked over because it happened where many millions of people live. However, countless weather extremes go unreported because they happen over sparsely populated areas or oceans,” according to one forecast.
Last week, newspapers published pictures of people wearing sleeveless T-shirts. Joggers ran about in shorts.
Cherry blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden made an unscheduled appearance and dolphins were spotted in the East Hampton town of New York state.
The balmy weather led to gloomy faces among retailers.
A week before Christmas, they were already complaining about the slow sale of winter coats and accessories such as gloves and scarves.
Weather reports are heavy-duty stuff here where it doesn’t just suffice to say “hujan di satu dua tempat.” Reports on the TV and newspapers will provide the condition in Central Park the previous evening, trends in the last 10 days, and also a comparison with the corresponding day last year.
The time of sunrise, sunset, moonrise and moonset is available as well besides ozone reading and UV index.
There is an endless list of indicators such as C (clouds), F (fog), I (ice), Sn (snow), SS (snow showers), H (haze), PC (partly cloudy) and T (thunderstorms).
Most news programmes will show the current temperature in a little box below the TV screen.
Americans, by the way, have not embraced the metric system yet. So, the report says: “Much cooler, sunny. High 53.” By our definition, that’s 11.7°C.
Few people pay scant attention to the weather report. Their attire and activities are governed by the temperature of the day.
They need to know how much, or how little, to wear before stepping out of the house. It also settles the question about the umbrella. An outdoor event organised by one company recently came with the caveat “subject to inclement weather.”
Still, the days of warm winter are numbered, as the mercury isn’t rising anymore. By the middle of last week, it was a different story as people began to bundle up again.
On Wednesday, the temperature dipped to below zero.
In the words of the weatherman, it was frigid.
