Weather has to be the most underestimated topic of conversation. While it is always acceptable, and often even encouraged, to have scatological, revealingly personal or sexually graphic conversations with perfect strangers in dining halls, you are likely to be confronted with smirks and scornful looks if you start talking about the weather. The weather is boring, people will whine. It's small talk. It means you don't have anything interesting to say.

Well, we strongly disagree. The weather influences our spirits, marks our academic performance and determines the fate of our relationships--only the truly committed and hyperthermic manage to keep River-Quad relationships alive during the winter. The weather provides an endless topic of conversation; it gives you something to talk about if you do not care to learn about somebody's sperm count or antidepressant abuse over lunch. Besides, the speaker, not the topic, determines whether a conversation is interesting or not. It's simply a question of finding an exciting approach; the subject matter is secondary. To prove that style can salvage or transform almost everything, we give you several ways of talking about the weather. Take them as mere suggestions, come up with your own, and go crazy in the dining halls.