TV Show: Episode 14
Talking about the weather
C-band: Channel 15(As usual, there will be some changes to the script, but it is basically the same.)
(Terry is sitting with a variety of weather-related items: an umbrella, sun screen, a cap, a sweater, etc.)
Zack: What’s all this?
Terry: This time of year, you never know what kind of weather to expect, so I’m prepared for everything.
Zack: What’s the weather supposed to be like today?
Terry: I’m not sure. Let’s find out what the Bangkok Post says. There’s a weather report everyday.
Zack: Here it is.
(Show a screenshot of the Bangkok Post weather report)
Terry: You, for someone who wants to learn to read the Bangkok Post, this is a great place to start.
Zack: Why is that?
Terry: Because you can learn to read this section in a day or two. Let’s help our viewers get started with some of the most important vocabulary they will need to read a weather report.
Zack: Good idea. Let’s give it a try.
Fade:
Temperature
First, we all know about temperature. Each day we say there is a minimum temperature (the lowest temperature of the day) and a maximum temperature (the highest temperature of the day.
(Zack gives the Thai terms.)
Terry: That’s easy.
The sky
(Use a square sheet of blue paper with a sun in the middle)
Terry: Now let’s go to the sky. That means we have to talk about the clouds.
Zack: Wait a minute. What if there are no clouds in the sky.
Terry: Then we say the sky is clear. Or we say we have a fair sky.
Now let’s add some clouds. (Add paper clouds). This is probably the most common sky of all.
Zack: That’s partly cloudy, right?
Terry: Exactly. More clouds please.
Zack adds more clouds until the sun is completely covered.
Terry: Now we have a cloudy day.
Zack: (Add grey clouds to the mix). Oh Oh, it looks like rain might be coming. What kind of a sky is this?
Terry: That’s an overcast day. The sky is full of grayish clouds.
Rain of all types
Terry: What can come out of an overcast sky?
Zack: Water of course.
Terry: Let’s start with the least amount of water.
What
happens when there is a lot of water in the air, but it’s not
raining? Zack: That’s fog. That’s a very foggy day.
Terry: Yes, we say it is a dense or thick fog. People in the North see a lot of morning fog this time of year.
(Use a spray bottle of some kind to produce a fine mist)
Zack: That is mist, right? It doesn’t really feel like it is raining.
Terry: Now if we a few light drops of rain, we have a drizzle. We say it is drizzling.
Terry: Now for some real rain. Our typical rain which is not too hard and not too long is called a shower. Just like the shower we take at home.
(Add light rain to the overcast sky on the paper)Anything harder is rain. (Add heavier rain to the overcast sky)
Then of course we have our storms. Extremely heavy rain is called torrential rain. (Show photo)
That’s about all.
Zack: No it’s not. What often comes
along with the rain?Terry: You mean this? (photo of lightning.)
Zack: That’s right.
That’s lightning. (Add paper lightning strike to the overcast sky)
(Sound of thunder)
Zack: And that’s thunder.
Terry: So, we when add them to rain we have either thundershowers or thunderstorms.
Typically, a weather report will tell us how much rain there is – how much of an area is covered with rain. Here, we have to learn three words.
Zack: What are they?
Isolated, scattered, and widespread
Zack: Let’s start with isolated.
Isolated means the areas of rain are far apart. (Demonstrate on pieces of paper). That means that most of the area is dry with just small areas of rain.
Zack: The word scatter means to spread something over a wide area (Scatters small pieces of paper over the floor.) How does that apply to weather?
Terry: It is the same idea. It means there is rain in many different areas, but still most areas will remain dry. (Illustrates by putting several rain storms on paper. Widespread, on the other, means that almost everyone in an area is getting wet.(Illustrates by covering the paper with rain symbols)
Wind
Zack: I guess now we’re finished.
(Fan starts blowing)
Terry: No, we forgot about the wind.
We all know what “windy” means, but there are actually several kinds of winds
The first kind of wind is a pleasant one. It makes us feel cooler and refreshed. (Fan is on a low setting)
Zack: That’s breeze, right?
Yes. And we can have a light breeze or even heavy breeze.
Zack: What do we call it when the wind is always changing, blowing light, then heavy, then light? (Fan speed is increased, decreased, increased, etc.
Terry: Then it is gusty. Those short heavy bursts of wind are called gusts.
(Put fan at full. Things begin to blow away.
A very heavy wind is called a gale. We are now experiencing gale force winds. Quick, Zack. Close the window.
(Wind calms down)
Then, course we have the wind storms. In my part of the world we have hurricanes. In this part of the world, we called them typhoons. Then, there is the most frightening wind storm of all, the tornado. Show video of hurricane and tornado.
Fade
Weather report
(Terry sits at a desk, just like in a TV studio for the weather report)
Terry: Let’s end the programme with some examples from last Friday’s weather report in the Bangkok Post. I’ll start with the North.
North
Minimum temperature: 19 Celsius. Maximum temperature: 33 celsius. Morning cool with fog and dense fog in some places. Cool in mountain tops.
Northeast
Minimum temperature: 18 Celsius. Maximum temperature: 32 celsius. Morning cool with fog. Isolated light rain, mainly in Ubon Ratchathani and Sisaket. Cold in mountain tops.
Central
Minimum temperature: 23 Celsius. Maximum temperature: 33 celsius. Morning fog. Isolated light rain mainly in Ratchaburi and Samut Songkhram.
East and Coastal
Minimum temperature: 23 Celsius. Maximum temperature: 34 celsius. Widely scattered showers in Chantaburi and Trat.
South
Minimum temperature: 22 Celsius. Maximum temperature: 32 celsius. Widespread thundershowers and isolated heavy rain some places over Chumphon, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Songkhla, Phangna and Phuket.
Closing remarks