There is actually a lot of vocabulary to do with snow! Also there are lots of idioms about the cold. Look out for them in the text and then find out what they mean in the glossary below. Also, please join in the vote: it only takes one click! 
If you were in the UK on Saturday, as well as feeling the cold snap, you would have seen a special event. Around 5pm it started snowing, but not just a little – a lot! Usually, snowfall happens during the night so when you wake up you see this wonderful sight of snow-covered houses and buildings. This time was different as you could see snowflakes in front of your very eyes, and it was very cool to see. In normal cases when this happens overnight everything just stops the next day, like transport, work, and football games – particularly in London. Some people break into a cold sweat at the thought of not being able to go out or being trapped inside some place after it has snowed heavily. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending how you look at it) snow doesn’t settle for long here as the weather is so changeable. However, if you’re snowed in again, here are some ideas what you can do being stuck indoors:
- Email people
Usually when you haven’t emailed friends for a while, they start to think that you are giving them the cold shoulder. Email them back to reassure them you’re not. When people had to write letters before the internet, it was understandable that it could be a tiring thing to do regularly. However, in the cold light of day, there are no excuses not to catch up with your emails and reply to a friend, particularly when you can’t go outside!
- Watch a scary movie
I know not everyone likes horror films but spine-chilling movies that make your blood run cold always warm up the spirit!
- Take a bath
Although not an economically good idea, it’s a great way to relax and take you away from the outside world. If you’re stressed at being snowed in or you’re snowed under at work, a bath is a good way to take away your troubles.
- Talk to family
Don’t leave your family out in the cold on what is happening in your life. People usually forget how quick time goes, so give them a call and update them. Parents in particular would be very happy to hear from you.
- Book a holiday
When you can’t go outside because of the bad weather, it always cheers you up to start looking at holidays online. If there is one you have always wanted, don’t get cold feet and just book it.
- Give up a bad habit and start cooking
Cooking is the fashionable thing to do nowadays. Don’t pour cold water on the idea if you can’t cook because you can find recipes and TV shows anywhere for ideas. It’s also a good time to stop a bad habit like smoking as you can’t go outside. People do say the best way to give up is to go cold turkey and replace it with something like this. [poll id="23"]
Cold/Snow vocabulary
- A cold snap
- a sudden period of extreme cold weather
- Snowfall (n)
- amount of snow that falls during a specific period of time
- Snowflake (n)
- a particle of snow
- To settle (snow)
- verb that snow does when it falls on the ground and stays
- To snow heavily
- Snow a lot
- Spine-chilling (adj)
- Very scary
Cold Idioms
- Break into a cold sweat
- to suddenly become very scared about something
- To be snowed in
- trapped somewhere because of too much snow
- Give someone the cold shoulder
- to behave in an unfriendly way to someone / ignore
- In the cold light of day
- to think about something clearly and often feel shame afterwards
- Make your blood run cold
- to make you very scared about something
- Snowed under
- overworked, especially busy
- Leave someone out in the cold
- to not involve someone in something, like a group
- To get cold feet
- to suddenly become too scared to do something planned
- To pour cold water on something
- to try and stop and idea to do something
- To go cold turkey
- to stop a habit all in at once, not slowly bit-by-bit
