WEATHER Words: Useful Words & Phrases to Describe the Weather in English

WEATHER Words! In this lesson, you will learn useful words & phrases to describe the weather in English.

Table of Contents

WEATHER Words

Rain is drops of water from clouds.
Heavy/ constant/ steady/pouring rain or Downpour is a lot of rain in a short time.
Light / gentle rain or Drizzle means not heavy rain.
Rainfall is the amount of rain which falls.
Deluge is a severe flood.
Rainstorm is a storm with heavy rain.
A drop of rain / a droplet / a raindrop is a single drop of rain.
Rainbow is a curved shape of different colors seen in the sky.
Shower is a short period of rain or snow.

Snow means atmospheric water vapor frozen into ice crystals and falling in light white flakes or lying on the ground as a white layer.

Heavy snow/ deep snow is a great amount of snow.
Light snow means not heavy snow.
Hail is small and hard balls of ice falling from the sky.
Sleet is snow partly melted.
Wet snow means watery snow.
Melting snow means snow turning from the solid state to the liquid state.
Snowfall means a fall of snow.
Snowstorm is a heavy fall of snow, especially with a high wind.
Blizzard is a severe snowstorm with high winds and low visibility.
Frost is the thin, white layer of ice that forms when the air temperature is below the freezing point of water, especially outside at night.
Thaw means snow becoming liquid as a result of warming.
Slippery roads or surface means a surface difficult to hold firmly or stand on because it is smooth, wet, or slimy.
Snowflake is a small piece of snow that falls from the sky.
Snowdrift is a large mass of snow heaped up by the wind.
Snow bank is a large pile of snow.
Ice is the water that has frozen and become solid.
Icicle is a hanging, tapering piece of ice formed by the freezing of dripping water.
Shower is a short period of rain or snow.

Cloudy means that the sky is completely covered by clouds, no view of blue sky.
Overcast means that There are clouds in the sky, no light and sun.
Gloomy means dark or cloudy in a way that is unpleasant and makes it difficult to see.

Wind is a current of air moving approximately horizontally, especially one strong enough to be felt.

Breeze is a light wind.
Gentle wind is a light wind.
Blustery means the wind blowing strongly.
a gust of wind, a blast of wind, strong wind, high wind
gust and blast means a sudden strong wind.
strong or high wind means hard wind.
light wind means the wind blowing slightly.
Brisk wind means the wind blowing quickly and actively.
Piercing wind means the wind making you fell very cold.
Easterly / Westerly / Northerly / Southerly wind is a wind blowing from the east.
Hurricane / Whirlwind / Tornado is a violent wind that has a circular movement, especially in the West Atlantic Ocean.
Twister is used as a word instead of “tornado” in U.S.
Cyclone is a violent storm, especially in Southern Hemisphere.
Windstorm / Gale is a storm with very strong wind.
Typhoon is a tropical storm, especially in the West Pacific Ocean.
Dust storm is a mass of dust and sand that has been lifted from the ground in very dry areas such as deserts and that is carried by the wind.
Sandstorm is a strong wind in a desert carrying a large amount of sand.
Tropical Storm is a storm forming over tropical oceans.
Hurricane, typhoon, cyclone are the same. However, they have different names because they are in different regions which are mentioned above.

Fog / Haze / Mist is a weather condition in which very small drops of water come together to form a thick cloud close to the land or earth’s surface and it is hard to see.
Thick fog / Dense fog / Heavy Fog means having parts which are close together so that it is difficult to see well.
Patchy fog means fog only existing in some parts.
A blanket of fog means fog covering something completely with a thick layer.
Smog is a fog combined with smoke and other atmospheric pollutants.