English in Madrid

Poorer people bear brunt of extreme heat in Europe, say Spanish researchers Madrid study finds people from below-average income groups more likely to die in heatwaves Scorching temperatures across Europe have killed tens of thousands of people in recent years. But as fatalities rise, researchers are finding that one group is disproportionately bearing the brunt of extreme heat: those living in poverty. “It’s common sense,” said Julio Díaz Jiménez, an investigative professor at Madrid’s Carlos III health institute. “A heatwave is not the same when you’re in a shared room with three other people and no air conditioning, as when you’re in a villa with access to a pool and air conditioning.” Díaz Jiménez is among a group of researchers who explored how extreme heat had affected 17 districts in Madrid. Their paper, published in 2020, found that heatwaves had an impact on  mortality in just three districts – those where household incomes were below average. They followed up with a...

Source: Pexels (Dario Fernandez Ruz) European weather: Winter heat records smashed all over continent Temperatures for January have reached an all-time high in a number of nations across Europe. National records have fallen in eight countries - and regional records in another three. Warsaw, Poland, saw 18.9C (66F) on Sunday while Bilbao, Spain, was 25.1C - more than 10C above average . The mild European weather comes as North America faces more severe storms , days after a deadly winter cold sna p left more than 60 dead. Heavy snow and freezing rain have been forecast for parts of the northern Midwest while severe thunderstorms and tornadoes are expected in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. But on the European side of the Atlantic, the weather has been balmy for many places at the start of the year. Temperatures in the Netherlands, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Latvia, Czech Republic, Poland, Denmark and Belarus broke national records. Station records were broken in German...

Source: my Instagram Spain freezes in MINUS 25C weather as the country sees lowest temperatures for two decades  Spain is struggling to return to normality three days after 30-hour-long record snowfall that was hardened by record-low temperatures  Temperatures on Monday evening plummeted , reaching as low as minus 25.4 degrees Celcius in Bello, Spain  Big freeze has complicated efforts to clear countless roads and streets blocked by ice, snow and fallen trees Spain has shivered through its coldest night in at least two decades amid a record-breaking cold snap that blanketed Madrid in snow, closed the city’s main airport, and buried roads in snow and ice.  Temperatures plummeted to as low as 25.4 degrees Celsius in the town of Bello, located in a mountainous region to the east of Madrid known as the Spanish Siberia, the country's weather agency AEMT reported .  In Madrid, the temperatures fell to minus 10.8 degrees Celsius, the lowest level in half a c...

Source: Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash Spain battles biggest wildfires in 20 years as heatwave grips Europe Health officials warn ‘ the worst is still to come ’, with temperatures expected to exceed 44C in some areas Firefighters battled wildfires at a scale not seen for 20 years in Spain and southern France was placed on unprecedented red alert as much of western Europe sweltered in an extreme early-summer heatwave on Thursday. With temperatures in northern Spain and southern France set to exceed 44C, governments urged their citizens to take the utmost precaution, warning that in some areas the worst was yet to come . The conditions led officials to raise the French extreme heat alert to red. The alert, signifying a “dangerous weather phenomenon”, was the first since the system was introduced in 2004 following a 2003 heatwave that led to 15,000 premature deaths. It was issued for the four southern départements of Hérault, Gard, Vaucluse and Bouches-du-Rhône. “All mem...

Why the heat puts us in a bad mood   Research points to links between hot weather and irritability, anxiety, and even wars We’ve all heard that sunny days get your spirits up , that they create a sense of wellbeing , that life is better in warm countries such as Spain… But what happens when the temperature is so high that you can’t even set foot outside your house, or sleep at night? What happens when you are so overpowered by the heat that you don’t feel like do ing anything at all? Spain has gone through 80 heat waves in the last 40 years, according to a report released a few weeks ago by the Spanish National Meteorological Agency. The worst one on record took place in July and August 2003. It is a well-known fact that the human body suffers in these conditions. In the fourth century BC, Hippocrates described how the wind can affect people, and suggested that epidemics could be linked to weather conditions. The normal temperature of a human body at rest...

Source: You Tube ( Sylvia Vrethammar Official ) Key Words: Viva España Sylvia Y Viva España - Sylvia All the ladies fell for Rudolph Valentino He had a * beano back in those balmy days He knew every time you meet an icy creature You've got to teach her hot blooded latin ways But even Rudy would have felt the strain Of making smooth advances in the rain Oh this year I'm off to Sunny Spain Y Viva España I'm taking the Costa Brava 'plane Y Viva España If you'd like to chat a matador, in some cool cabaña And meet senoritas by the score , España por favor Quite by chance to hot romance I found the answer Flamenco dancers are by far the finest bet There was one who whispered oh hasta la vista Each time I kissed him behind the castanette He rattled his maracas close to me In no time I was trembling at the knee When they first arrive the girls are pink and pasty but oh so tasty as soon as they go brown I guess they know ev'ry fell...

Source: ITN News (You Tube ) key words: prince charles weather man Expect reign: Prince Charles reads the weather The threat of floods and yet more miserable wet weather means all too often these days the television weather report is a thoroughly dispiriting business. However, viewers tuning into BBC Scotland's lunchtime weather report today had at least a small measure of consolation after receiving the bad news from royalty. Prince Charles, who was on a tour of the channel's Scottish Pacific Quay headquarters with his wife the Duchess of Cornwall, delivered a special weather broadcast live on BBC Scotland. Source: The Independent Vocabulary : a reign - a threat - a flood - all too often - thoroughly - dispiriting (adj) - to tune into (a TV channel) - headquarters - to broadcast - live (adj) - to be treated to stg - unsettled (weather) - northwards - outbreaks of rain - a flurry o...

Source: Elijah Hail on Unsplash Now that the sun has put in an appearance, I thought it was time to add to the rainy and cold weather lists. Vocabulary for Hot Weather : 1. air conditioning /ˈɛər kənˌdɪʃənɪŋ/ - aire acondicionado Banned 'your wife is hot' air conditioning ad appears on billboard https://t.co/0Ty1l3hKxj — English in Madrid (@madteacher72) July 23, 2019 Why are fans only for women? It's not fair. They beat air-conditioning. pic.twitter.com/AoXboU9aCE — English in Madrid (@madteacher72) June 8, 2020 2. boiling /ˈbɔɪlɪŋ/ - hirviendo 3. bright /braɪt/ - brillante 4. clammy /ˈklæmi/ - húmedo 5. clear /klɪər/ - despejado 6. close /kloʊs/ - bochornoso 7. There isn't a cloud in the sky. /ðɛr ˈɪzənt ə klaʊd ɪn ðə skaɪ/ - No hay ni una nube en el cielo. 8. dry /draɪ/ - seco 9. a drought /draʊt/ - una sequía 10. hazy /ˈheɪzi/ - brumoso 11. heat /hiːt/ - calor 12. a heatwave /ˈhiːtweɪv/ - una ola de calor Omg! The clock is ticking too fast. My trainin...

Source:  Josh Hild en Unsplash   Here is a handy   list for when it's cold outside - I hope I haven't left anything out ! :-) an avalanche - a large amount of snow that falls down the side of a mountain below freezing - under zero ºC bitterly cold - extremely and unpleasantly cold biting (adj) - extremely cold weather that can cause pain a blizzard - a severe snow storm with strong winds a chill (n) - a feeling of cold chilly (adj) - cold a cold spell - a short period of cold weather degrees - measurement of temperature a drop in temperature - a fall in temperature a flurry - a sudden, light fall of snow, blown in different directions by the wind to freeze (froze, frozen) - when sth goes below 0ºC and becomes hard freezing cold (adj) - very cold frost (n) - a white, powdery layer of ice frosty (adj) - very cold, with ice crystals frostbite (n) - skin condition (on toes and fingers) caused by severe cold frozen solid - turned to hard ice ...

Look at the   forecast for the next few days for  my two homes of Inverness and Madrid ; and Rome , my home for many years. What is the weather like for the next three days? Compare the weather in the three cities. Source:  Max Bender on Unsplash Wet Weather Vocabulary : rain (n,v) - lluvia, llover wet (adj) - mojado damp (adj) - húmedo a (light/heavy) shower - un chabasco (ligero/intenso) scattered showers - chubascos dispersos drizzle (v,n) - lloviznar, loovizna a drop of rain - una gota de lluvia to pour (rain) / to teem rain - llover a cántaros a downpour - un aguacero soaked (adj) /  drenched (adj) - empapado flooding (n) - inundaciones to rain cats and dogs - llover a cántaros Source: You Tube (Turner Classic Movies) Key words: Singin' rain gene kelly Singin' in the Rain - Gene Kelly Doo-dloo-doo-doo-doo Doo-dloo-doo-doo-doo-doo Doo-dloo-doo-doo-doo-doo Doo-dloo-doo-doo-doo-doo... I'm singing in the rain Just singing in the r...

Source:   Jorge Ramírez en Unsplash Madrid in smog warning to commuters Madrid's city council is calling on commuters to take public transport and combat a spike in air pollution levels. The council has put up signs on motorway display panels advising drivers of high contamination. The warnings began after nitrogen dioxide (NO2) was recorded at least five times above the limit set by the EU as the safe annual average. The council is already under scrutiny for failing to tackle   air pollution, and apparently distorting data. 'Black cap' Levels of NO2 in Madrid - mainly the result of car exhausts - are consistently over the EU hourly limit of 200 micrograms per cubic metre. But the situation this month has been exacerbated by an unusual weather pattern . An anticyclone - an area of high atmospheric pressure - is preventing the air pollution dispersing as it normally would, leaving it hanging over Madrid and forming what Spaniards are calling a "bl...

We spend SIX MONTHS of our lives just talking about the weather It's a handy topic to break the ice or simply pass the time. Now the extent of our national obsession with the weather has been made clear. We actually spend six months of our lives discussing it, a survey has shown. Our fixation with the elements means Britons talk about the climate almost five times a day, spending longer dissecting its ups and downs than on sport or work. And when it comes to meeting strangers, weather is the most common way to get a conversation started. Women are particularly fond of the subject, and spend more time talking about it than discussing men, their love lives and gossip combined. The preoccupation has even moved into the digital age, with 500,000 weather-related 'tweets' on the Twitter social networking website daily. Older people have three times as many conversations on the subject as teenagers - and many feel their life experience can help them predict rain...

Source: Filip Bunkens on Unsplash Snow and ice delay Christmas getaway Snow and ice continues to cause travel chaos in large parts of the UK, a day after thousands of motorists were stranded   by wintry conditions. Flights from Luton, Gatwick, Stansted, Glasgow and Edinburgh airports are still disrupted. Eurostar resumed a limited service on Tuesday, after being closed for three days due to extreme weather in France. The freezing conditions are affecting parts of England and Wales, with the south east and London worst affected. BBC forecaster Chris Fawkes said ice was the major problem, and there would be more snow in northern Scotland and north-west England during the day. He said Aberdeen might have a white Christmas but the rest of the UK could expect dry conditions. Christmas service Roads in south-east England were brought to a standstill   on Monday, forcing thousands to spend the night in their cars or emergency rest centres. Many flights were als...