Is it because you lied when you were seventeen?

It seems like sod’s law that the weather is always beautiful when you have to be stuck inside, and downright miserable whenever you have an opportunity to get away.  But there is an explanation for why this is true.

Weather patterns are, at the very basics, caused by warm and cold air fronts in different combinations interacting.  Cold fronts move faster than warm ones, as the cold air is denser, and they can cause more rapid shifts in weather conditions.  The other factor is how much water is in the air – the humidity.

Now, take these basics and think about what can affect them.  Atmospheric conditions will obviously be the first thing, but there is another hugely important reagent that you may remember from The Matrix.

The human body generates more bio- electricity than a 120-volt battery and over 25000 B.T.U.’s of body heat.

Now, whether or not those actual numbers are accurate, the fact is that body heat is powerful enough to be harnessed as an energy source.  Central Station in Sweden does this, as does Minnesota’s Mall of America.  So if humans are such a powerful force in terms of heat and humidity, what happens when that power is left unharnessed?  WEATHER happens.

People generate heat and moisture all the time, but the only time it really matters is when they’re indoors and it can’t just dissipate immediately.  The more people and the smaller the space, the bigger the effect.  So when you’re at work, the building you work in is contributing towards the warm fronts that keep weather calm and even, and the humidity that would otherwise be creating clouds and rain is trapped.  When you get out of work, all of the controlled energy escapes and allows cold fronts to sweep in and make the weather change suddenly overnight – just in time for your day off the following morning.  Incidentally, this is why Bank Holiday weekends are so unpredictable – the changeover between office workers taking holiday and shop/retail workers coming in for the peak sales period means anything could happen!