Weather Vocabulary

Do you have any plans with family or friends this weekend? What is the weather like at the weekend? Talking about the weather is very important if you have any plans outside or just for starting a conversation with other people. On this page you will learn some weather vocabulary. These words and phrases will help you describe the weather. 

We are talking about the weather, right? Now, it would be so nice to sit under an umbrella at the beach with a tall glass of frozen lemonade. Wouldn’t it?                        

But instead, I’m sitting in my room, all the windows are open and I’m still sweating, it’s 38 degrees today!                                                                                                     OK, I love when the weather is hot and sunny, but today it’s boiling in here! 

When we say it’s boiling, it is like the water in a teapot is boiling, the water reaches at a temperature at which it starts to turn from a liquid into a gas, it means the weather is extremely hot, and you feel uncomfortable because of the temperature.

Boiling is an adjective, so you can use it after verb be.

You can also say:

It’s boiling hot. or It’s a boiling hot day.



There are some other words that we can use when the weather is warm or hot.


Scorcher, scorching or scorching hot

To scorch is a verb and it means to burn something slightly with heat. When you talk about very hot weather you can say:

  • It’s a scorcher. or Today is a scorcher.
  • It’s scorching.
  • It’s scorching hot.

Stifling

Stifling is another adjective you can use for very hot weather such as boiling or scorching. But when it is stifling, it is hard to breathe and there is a lack of fresh air.

  • It’s stifling in here.
  • It’s stifling hot.


Humid

When the weather has a lot of water vapour in it, you sweat and you feel your skin is sticky, also your clothes are not totally wet like when it is raining, but they cling to your body. We usually use the adjective humid with hot and say:

  • It’s hot and humid today.

Mild

When the weather is mild, it is not too hot or too cold.
When you have mild weather in winter, it means the weather is warmer than it usually is in winter.
When you have mild weather in summer, it means the weather is cooler- the temperature is lower- than it usually is in summer.


There are some words we can use when the weather is cold. The first one is chilly.


Chilly

When you say it’s chilly outside, it means the weather is cold, but it is not very cold. It is still not very good to stay outside when the weather is chilly.



Freezing

It’s freezing means the weather is very cold and the temperature is at or below the level that water freezes. (Water freezes at 0°C.)                                                      You can say:

  • It’s freezing.
  • It’s freezing cold.

Frost

When the temperature is below the degree that water freezes, you can see white, thin layer of ice crystals on the surfaces of leaves or on the road.
This white ice layer on the surfaces is called frost. Frost is a noun.



Sleet

Sleet is a mixture of rain and snow. When it touches the ground it melts away. It is really hard to walk on sleet, because it is slippery and you may fall, you should also be ready to have your boots or even feet wet! Sleet is a noun.



Hail

Hail is small balls of ice that falls from the sky. It may really hurt or even injure you, or damage the cars, you should be careful and find a place to hide under when the hail starts! Hail is a noun.



Drizzle

When the rain drops are small, and the rain is light, we call it a drizzle. Drizzle is a noun like the rain, snow, or wind.
When it rains lightly and slowly, we say, it’s drizzling.
You can also say, drizzling rain.



Shower, it’s showery. or it’s a showery day.

When it rains for a short period of time and it usually rains lightly, we call it a shower.
When it rains lightly and not continuously-for a period of time-, we say that the weather is showery.



It’s pouring, it’s pouring with rain. or it’s pouring down.

When it rains heavily and there is a lot of rain, we say, it’s pouring, it’s pouring with rain or it’s pouring down.

We all learned the expression it’s raining cats and dogs related to the heavy rain, but native speakers do not use it very often, it’s pouring down is much more common than the first one.