According to a study carried out at the University of Glasgow, people in Scotland use more than 400 words and expressions to describe different aspects of snow.
(421 terms have been logged including: snaw (snow), sneesl (to begin to rain or snow), skelf (a large snowflake, feefle - to swirl, flindrikin - a light snow shower, snaw-pouther - fine driving snow, spitters - small drops or flakes of wind-driven rain or snow, and unbrak - the beginning of a thaw.
Dr Susan Rennie, lecturer in English and Scots language at the university, said: “Weather has been a vital part of people's lives in Scotland for centuries. The number and variety of words in the language show how important it was for our ancestors to communicate about the weather, which could so easily affect their livelihoods.”
My spellchecker just melted.)
