Phrase: going to experience light snow

[Beverly]

English Grammar Tests, Elementary Level

ESL/EFL Test #114 "Weather Test (1)", question 2

If the weather forecast is calling for flurries, you're probably going to experience ..........

(a) rain
(b) light snow
(c) hail

English Grammar Tests, Elementary Level

ESL/EFL Test #114 "Weather Test (1)", answer 2

If the weather forecast is calling for flurries, you're probably going to experience light snow.

Correct answer: (b) light snow
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i don'n understand this question... Please help.

Beverly

[Alan]

Hi,

'A flurry' is a light fall of snow. This suggests that this is what the weather forecast is telling everyone.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Mahboubeh]

Hello dear Alan

My dictionary which is oxford says a small amount of rain is also called flurry:

A small amount of snow, rain, etc. that falls for a short time and then stops

Regards

[Hollandhaggis]

You could also have a 'flurry of interest' or a 'flurry of falling leaves' but in general when you hear 'a flurry of ' on the weather forecast in Britain you expect the ending to be 'snow'.
In fact I don't think I have ever heard the expression 'flurries of rain'.
We'd be more likely to say ' light rain-showers' or 'light showers of rain'.

Regards from a meteorologist's daughter :-)

[OxfordBlues]

Mahboubeh,

A small amount of rain is normally called a drizzle (only a few drops falling) or a shower (steady rain that is not heavy).

Flurries are occasional snowflakes or small clumps of snowflakes.

(LOL I just noticed that Holland answered this above...oops)
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[Mahboubeh]

My dear friends Hollandhaggis and OxfordBlues
Thank you so much for your replies.
I will never forget "flurries of snow" ;)

Best regards

[English Teacher]

Dears,
My Oxford dictionary says," flurry: short,sudden rush of wind or fall of rain or snow.
So wind also related to the meaning, are we wrong sir?!
Best regards.
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[English Teacher]

Dears,
My Oxford dictionary says," flurry: short,sudden rush of wind or fall of rain or snow.
So wind also related to the meaning, are we wrong sir?!
Best regards.
_________________
" If you live, live freely OR Die like trees
Standing"

[Alan]

Hi,

I have personally never heard of a flurry of wind and so I have learnt something new!

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Progressive Forms

[OxfordBlues]

It sounds as if they're using it as a synonym for gust.
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[English Teacher]

[Hollandhaggis]

I had a quick check with a search engine to see what came up for 'flurry'...
....a flurry of flying mud ( wrestling a steer)
“In a flurry of flame and fur, fangs and wicker..." ( short story)
.... a flurry of rain in THE LAND OF LITTLE RAIN : Nurslings of the Sky ( story)
Walk into any department store's shoe department and you'll see a flurry of rain boots (blog)
....another flurry of rain caused them to turn tail and run... report of a cricket match.
Flurry of wind-deals roll out across North America ( USA reportage of a number of wind-farm deals)
Flurry of complaints after wind change ( again about wind farms )
....a flurry of proposals online dictionary
Willmar is experiencing a flurry of clean energy action. ( wind farms once more !)
From Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms.
Examples: flurry of birds [fluttering around before settling down on a lake or marsh];
of passions, 1710; of petals, 1884; of rain, 1892; of ruffles, 1882; of snow, 1836; of snowbirds, 1868; of snowflakes, 1883; of tempest, 1880; of wind.
From Compact Oxford English Dictionary2009,
noun (pl. flurries) 1 a small swirling mass of snow, leaves, etc. moved by a sudden gust of wind. 2 a sudden short spell of commotion or excitement. 3 a number of things arriving suddenly and simultaneously.

To my mind, a flurry of snow (or indeed of rain, although that's not a phrase I'd often think of using) is always accompanied by a gust of wind. A flurry suggests more movement than the gentle downward drift of snowflakes. Similarly with the word's other uses: a flurry of interest suggests a buzz or ripple of excitement.The wind is therefore connected with producing flurries but on its own I think a flurry of wind is not a phrase we'd expect to see very often in modern English... gust would be more usual.

[English Teacher]

[OxfordBlues]

I think I've realized the disconnect here: flurry (the noun of large numbers of something in motion (which I think may actually be a corruption of fury)) and snow flurries (a term for light snow falling intermittently sometimes in small clumps and rarely gusts of wind).

It could be that the snow term developed independently or it's simply taken on a meaning independent of the other use of flurry.
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[Kietsjsu]

Hi Teacher,

How do we use this word in the sentence? Leaving in the snow city some time you see a beautiful
Weather spectially earlY winter time in the morning you stand by the window and the flurries falls down from the sky.

Thanks
PhuChi