It is odd that with the weather so prominently diabolical across the globe, no new words have emerged to sum up the meteorological misery.

Instead, we have all become experts on weather phenomena, and previously obscure terms have suddenly leapt forward to become commonplace and act like new words to many.

The most notable is Derecho,  which is a land directional hurricane with extreme winds blowing in one direction. Such a storm caused havoc in the eastern United States recently, causing the word to emerge from its hitherto weather-geek state and become widely used by a newly knowing public.

Such was the word’s impact, the Global Languge Monitor picked it as one of its top words for the first half of 2012. I’m sure all US residents will be hoping it is not similarly prominent in the remainder of the year.

On the other side of the pond, you can be sure that Jet Stream will feature in many lists as one of the defining words of 2012 for the UK. Suddenly, we’re all experts on where it is meant to be at this time of the year, and we are all praying that the damn thing will move so we can get some sun. I never thought that ‘The  Jet Stream Is Moving’ would become a headline we would hear and instantly understand.

And if it’s not the jet stream, residents in Newcastle will tell you they are experts in super cell storms, having been doused by one in the last few weeks.

Will some new wild weather terms emerge? Probably. But in the interim, we can all enjoy sounding a bit cleverer as we bandy about some words which have suddenly achieved a new lease of life in the English Language.