The Normal Abnormal Weather

Watching or listening to the weather on TV or radio, especially this time of year, yields a particularly strange use of the English language in relation to reality. Any particular day’s high or low temperature is always compared with the “normal” high or low temperature for the day. Of course, by “normal” they really mean “average,” because the actual normal is at least 5° and often 10° above or below the average. And so more often than not there is surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, in the weatherperson’s report of the day’s deviation from the “normal.” Today, for example, we’re experiencing “abnormally” warm temperatures in Iowa for December 29 – a balmy 53° against the more chilly average (weatherperson’s “normal”) of 31°. But if you look over the high temperatures for the past 16 years for Iowa City, you soon see that today’s high is not all that abnormal:

2011 - 53° 2010 - 35° 2009 - 19° 2008 - 26° 2007 - 26° 2006 - 56° 2005 - 36° 2004 - 41°

2003 - 35° 2002 - 50° 2001 - 15° 2000 - 19° 1999 - 54° 1998 - 37° 1997 - 30° 1996 - 21°

Only 3 of these highs are within 5° of the average (or “normal”), only 9 are within 10°, but 7 (almost half) are plus or minus 10° or more (3 plus 20°). So as with most in life it turns out that the “normal” is actually the “abnormal.” Surprise.