Wheather is something we all talk about. Most of the times, it is even a conversation starter. For example, haven’t you ever started a conversation saying something like?: What a nice day! or it is colder today. The same happens in Spanish. Also, knowing more vocabulary will always help with your speaking skills. For these reasons, I put together the most common Spanish weather vocabulary including words, verbs and expressions used to describe the weather and climate in Spanish. Below, you will find a few tables with the vocabulary and their English translations.
Spanish Weather Vocabulary
When you want to talk about weather in Spanish, the verbs commonly used are: haber, hacer and estar. The last is used to indicate non-permanence. As all we know, weather is not famous for its stability and thus, it is considered a non-permanent state. However, several specific verbs also exists to describe the weather, such as nevar (to snow) or llover (to rain).
ASKING ABOUT THE WEATHER
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| ¿Qué tiempo hace? | What’s the weather like? |
| ¿Cómo está el tiempo? | How’s the weather? |
| ¿Qué día hace? | What's the day like? |
NOUNS
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| El bochorno | Sweltering |
| El calor | Hot |
| El chaparrón El chubasco | Downpour |
| El frío | Cold |
| El granizo | Hail or hailstones |
| La granizada | Hailstorm |
| La humedad | Humidity |
| La lluvia | Rain |
| La llovizna | Drizzle |
| La niebla | Fog |
| La nieve | Snow |
| Las nubes | Clouds |
| La nevada | Snowfall |
| El sol | Sun |
| La tormenta | The storm |
| El trueno | Thunder |
| El viento | Wind |
| La ventisca La tormenta de nieve | Blizzard |
| El rayo El relámpago | Lightning (flash) |
VERBS
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Granizar | To hail |
| Llover | To rain |
| Lloviznar | To dizzle |
| Nevar | To snow |
| Relampaguear | To flash lightning |
| Tronar | To thunder |
¿QUÉ TIEMPO HACE?
You can spend a lot of time trying to figuring out what type of verb you need to use to answer this question. From my point of view, the best is to just remember the whole sentences.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Hace bochorno Hay bochorno | It is sweltering |
| Hace buen tiempo | The weather is nice |
| Hace calor | It is hot |
| Hace fresco | It’s brisk/chilly |
| Graniza Hay granizo Está granizando | It is hailing |
| Hace humedad Hay humedad | It is humid |
| Llueve Está lloviendo | It is raining |
| Llovizna Está lloviznando | It's drizzling |
| Está lluvioso | It is rainy |
| Hace mal tiempo | The weather is bad |
| Hay niebla Está nebuloso | It is foggy |
| Hay neblina | It is mist |
| Nieva Está nevando | It is snowing |
| Hay nubes Está nublado | It is cloudy |
| Relampaguea Hay relámpagos | It is lightning |
| Hace sol Está soleado | It is sunny |
| Hay una tormenta de nieve Hay una ventisca Hace ventisca | There is a blizzard |
| Hay tormenta | There is a storm |
| Truena Hay truenos Está tronando | There are thunders It is thundering |
| Hace viento Hay viento Está ventoso | It is windy |
| Hay un vendaval | There is strong wind |
¿QUÉ DÍA HACE?
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Hace un buen día | It is a nice/good day |
| Hace un día estupendo/maravilloso | It is a wonderful day |
| Hace un día horroroso | It is a terrible day |
| Hace un día soleado | It i a sunny day |
| Hace un mal día | It is a bad day |
EXPRESSIONS
A lot of colloquial expressions and idioms exist in Spanish for any topic, weather is no different.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| ¡Cómo pega el Lorenzo! | "How hits Lorenzo! Lorenzo, which is the sun, is shining hard and thus, it is very hot! |
| Hace rasca | It is very cold |
| Hace un calor infernal | It is diabolically hot |
| Hace un calor que te achicharras | It is as hot that you burn |
| Hace un día de perros | It is a very bad day "It is a day of dogs" |
| Hace un frío del carajo | It is very cold "It is dam cold" |
| Hace un frío que pela | It's so cold it burns your skin |
| Hace un frío que cala | It is very cold "It is as cold it seeps through" |
| Hace un sol de justicia | It is super sunny "It is a sun of justice" |
| Llueve a cántaros | It is raining cats and dogs |
| Llueve a mares | It is raining a lot "It is raining seas" |
| ¡Me aso de calor! | "I am roasting because of the heat!" It is simply very hot! |
| Me estoy asando | I am roasting |
| Me muero de calor | I am dying of heat |
| Me muero de frío | I am dying of cold |
| ¡Qué calor! ¡Vaya calor! | How hot! It is really hot! It is so hot! |
| ¡Qué chaparrón! ¡Vaya chaparrón! | What a downpour! |
| ¡Qué frío! ¡Vaya frío! | How cold! It is really cold It is so cold! |
| Ser un friolero | To be cold-blooded |
Spanish Climate Vocabulary
Climate is the conditions of the atmosphere over a long period of time. From this definition, we can consider that it is something that usually happens or an event in a permanent state. For this reason, we use the verb ser to describe the climate, since ser indicates permanence.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Es cálido | It is warm |
| Es caluroso | It is hot |
| Es fresco | It is cool |
| Es frío | It is cold |
| Es húmedo | It is humid |
| Es seco | It is dry |
| Es lluvioso | It is rainy |
