There she is, the TV weather girl.

You can tell she knows a lot about meteorology by her streamlined, low-wind-resistance, super-tight tops, and her micro-mini skirts guaranteed to keep her running cool even in the hottest Greek heat wave.

But it’s not just her wardrobe that catches your eye. It’s her . . . exotic and well-practiced hand movements.

These cannot be reduced to mere words on paper, and have to be experienced in the flesh, as it were.

There are the arms crossed lightly, nonchalantly, athwart her chest, her hands gracefully lapping opposite biceps, as if delicately exercising her shoulders . . . now both hands slowly drop, graceful as swooning seagulls, to join directly in front of her (for lack of a better term) crotch . . . now the hands move surreptitiously behind her back, her shoulders and torso swiveling side-to-side . . . now she turns, silently, almost imperceptibly sliding an open hand up to the Color Key to point out the high temperature of the day in Athens or the wind speed in Thessaloniki. Or maybe the rains in the Peloponnese.

Who knows what the weather is? And who cares?

I found myself drawn to the TV weather girl (who doubled as the TV movie introduction girl) and her incredibly intricate and ornate hand motions. Drawn to the point where I began to study her motions, to mimic them, to re-create them as if I were her understudy.

Then, suddenly, she was gone from the air.

“Maybe she’s on holiday,” I ventured.

“I think she got fired,” my friend Farida commented.

“Maybe she stopped sleeping with the boss,” I countered.

Whatever, the weather just wasn’t the same without her and her stylized hand motions (not to mention her micro-mini skirts, but that is a separate issue).

A new weather girl appeared in her place, complete with the tight tops and short skirts, but try as she might, it was clear she had not gotten down the hand motions.

“Hell, I can do them better than that,” I snorted, and demonstrated my well-practiced hand slides, finger touches, and body swings to Farida, who had to agree.

Days stretched into weeks, and still our usual weather girl did not re-appear, giving greater credence to theories 2 and/or 3 for her disappearance.

Then one night, surfing around the various channels, suddenly we came across our old favorite weather girl doing her thing on another channel.

“A-ha!” we cried, as if this really mattered.

This other channel was a little fuzzy and dark compared with her old station, and I have to say, she looked a little sad. But there were those wonderful old familiar hand motions, those old gracefully self-conscious shoulder swings, that marvelously tight top and tiny skirt.

I hear that in Russia the TV weather girls disrobe while doing their presentations, until they are completely nude, which tells me people are more disinterested in the weather in Russia than they are in Greece.

But I have to believe that is because the TV weather girls have not yet perfected their hand motions, as has our favorite TV weather girl here.

Maybe I need to go there to give them some pointers. After all, I learned with the best.