Kate

How to talk about the weather in English

If you are living in or visiting the UK, the weather is a tried and tested topic for small talk. Brits famously love to talk about (and often complain about!) the weather. In today’s blog post, we’ll explore useful phrases, adjectives, general vocabulary and idioms to talk about the weather so that you’ll never be lost for words when making conversation.

Us: British people talking about the weather is such a stereotype!
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Basic adjectives to describe the weather

Some words for answering the question: How is the weather today? Or How is the weather in xx place? 

It’s sunny.

A cartoon image showing a sun shining brightly.

It’s rainy.

A cartoon image showing a cloud with rain drops.

It’s windy.

A cartoon image showing two clouds and a gust of wind.

It’s snowy.

A cartoon image showing two grey clouds and some snow drops falling from them.

It’s chilly.

A cartoon image showing a man in a winter coat and hat looking cold and sad.

It’s freezing! (very cold)

A cartoon image showing a temperature gauge displaying a low temperature and a snowflake.

It’s boiling! (very hot)

A cartoon image showing a temperature gauge displaying a high temperature and a sweating sun.

It’s pleasant/lovely/fine.

A cartoon image showing a sun with a cloud in front of it.

It’s changeable.

A cartoon image showing a sun with a cloud in front of it with raindrops.

It’s overcast.

A cartoon image showing lots of grey clouds.

It’s cloudy.

A cartoon image showing two grey clouds.

It’s foggy.

A cartoon image showing a grey cloud and a light breeze passing in front of it.

It’s breezy./There is a light breeze

A cartoon image showing a sun with a cloud in front of it and a breeze.

There are some light showers.

A cartoon image showing a sun with a cloud in front of it and a couple of raindrops.

It is + ing

We use the present continuous tense to talk about an action happening at the moment of speaking, and we can also use this tense to describe the weather. Remember, in English we always need a subject for our sentence, so to talk about the weather use the subject ‘it’.

Some ways of answering How is the weather right now? Or What is the weather doing now?

It is raining. 

It is snowing. 

It is hailing. 

It is spitting. (for a light rain)

It is drizzling. (also for a light rain)

It is brightening up. Or It is clearing up.

Extreme weather words

Hurricane, tornado, storm, thunder and lightning.

Torrential rain – describes very strong and heavy rain.

Drought – this describes a long period without rain. Everything becomes very dry.

Blustery/Blustering – to describe strong winds.

Sweltering/Scorching – to describe extreme heat or heat waves.

Fun phrases and idioms to talk about the weather

It’s raining cats and dogs

This phrase is often one of the first English idioms that students learn. It’s raining cats and dogs means that it is raining very hard and very heavily.

Chucking it down/ Pouring  it down.

Use this informal phrase to describe very heavy rain.

Lovely weather for ducks!

Is it any surprise that British people have so many phrases to talk about the rain? This is another informal phrase to talk about heavy rain.

It’s blowing a hoolie!

You’re more likely to hear this phrase in Scotland than other parts of the UK. If there’s a very strong wind and the weather is stormy, people may remark that “it’s blowing a hoolie out there!” According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word ‘hoolie’ comes from the Orkney Scots word hoolan (strong gale).

More weather idioms

There are some weather idioms that we use which don’t actually describe the weather. For example, did you know that if you are feeling under the weather it means you are sick? Whereas if you are feeling right as rain it means that you are well and healthy! Learn more of these fun and useful weather idioms in our video blog post right here, or watch Kate R’s video lesson on this topic on YouTube.

What is the weather like where you are today? What is your favourite type of weather, and why? Do you have any weather idioms in your native language? Let us know in the comments!

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