Do you happen to know what is the most common subject in daily conversation? It is the weather, the seasons, the nature disasters and so on. As a matter of fact, wouldn’t it be better and more flexible for you to communicate in English with people when your head is full of words about weather? In this article, I will share with you some popular weather vocabularies. Let’s dive in!

How to study new words?

The very first step before we start learning any new words is  that you find out the most effective method of learning for yourself.

From my own experience, I usually make use of eJOY Extension – a Chrome extension designed by the eJOY team. eJOY Extension allows us to look up, pronounce and save any vocabulary that we haven’t known.

These are the steps that I follow to learn with eJOY Extension, let’s take a look:

  • First, you need to install eJOY Extension to your Google Chrome

Download Extension for free

  • Highlight the word you do not know for translation, definition, listen to the pronunciation and click Add 

eJOY Extension

  • eJOY Extension will help you to save the word with not only the meaning but also its context
  • Via the most excited and fun games, eJOY will help you to memorize all the new words.

English vocabularies about Weather

1. Topic 1 – Words describe the weather

Words describe the sky

bright
  • Bright (adjective):  full of light; when the sun is shining strongly
  • /braɪt/
  • It was a bright day, with thin cloud and a temperature of 26 degrees
clear
  • Clear (adjective): without clouds
  • /klir /
  • The sky is clear after it rains
fine
  • Fine (adjective): not raining, clear sky
  • /faɪn/
  • It’s fine today, why don’t we go out for a walk?
partly cloudy
  • Partly cloudy (adjective): when there is a mixture of both blue sky and clouds
  • /’pɑrtli, ˈklaʊ.di/
  • Monday will be partly cloudy with a temperature of 20 degrees
cloudy
  • Cloudy (adjective): with many clouds in the sky
  • /ˈklaʊ.di/
  • It was cloudy yesterday; however, it didn’t rain
 
  • Overcast (adjective): covered with cloud; dull
  • /’oʊvər,kæst /
  • The sky was overcast this morning, but the sun came out by late afternoon.
  • Gloomy (adjective): with dark clouds and dull light; some people consider this weather depressing
  • /ˈɡluː.mi/
  • It was gloomy on the day we broke up
  • Foggy (adjective): with fog
  • /ˈfɑː.ɡi/
  • I often go for a walk early in the mornings even on the foggy days.
  • Misty (adjective): there is mist in the air that makes it difficult to see into the distance
  • /ˈmɪs.ti/
  • It was a damp, misty morning.

Words describe the Rain

  • Drizzle (verb/noun): to rain lightly with very fine drops
  • /‘drɪzəl/
  • Tuesday will be cloudy with outbreaks of drizzle.
  • Shower (noun):  a short period of rain
  • / ‘ʃaʊər /
  • There will be thundery showers over many parts of the country.
  • Downpour (noun): heavy rain
  • / ‘daʊn,poʊr /
  • At half-past one, the steady downpour ceased, and only showers fell thereafter.
  • Torrential rain (noun): very heavy rain
  • / tɔ’rɛnʃəl, reɪn/
  • Sadly, 30 people lost their lives in the floods caused by the torrential rain.
  • Hail (verb): when frozen rain falls as small balls of ice (hailstones).
  • /heɪl/
  • It’s windy and hailing outside.

Words describe the Wind

  • Breeze (verb/noun): a gentle wind (often nice or refreshing)
  • /briz/
  • It breezes most evenings at the shore
  • Blustery (adjective): blowing (strong) gusts of wind
  • / ´blʌstəri /
  • It’s a blustery day; make sure your umbrella doesn’t blow away.
  • Windy (adjective): continual wind
  • /ˈwɪn.di/
  • It was wet and windy for most of the week.
  • Gale (noun):  a very strong wind
  • /ɡeɪl/
  • Hundreds of old trees were blown down in the gales.

2. Topic 2 – Words describe the temperature

Words describe high temperature, warm and humid weather

  • Hot (adjective): having a high temperature
  • /hɑːt/
  • It’s too hot in here, can we turn down the heating?
  • Boiling (adjective): very hot, often used in negative contexts
  • /ˈbɔɪ.lɪŋ/
  • We don’t usually have such boiling weather in London
  • Humid (adjective):  hot and damp. It makes you sweat a lot
  • /ˈhjuː.mɪd/
  • It is so humid that I’ve had to change my shirt twice already.
  • Muggy (adjective): warm and damp in an unpleasant way
  • /ˈmʌɡ.i/
  • Nights are warm and a little bit muggy due to the heat stored by the sea.
  • Sweltering (adjective): hot and uncomfortable
  • / ‘swɛltərɪŋ/
  • In the summer, it’s sweltering in the small offices.

Words describe low temperature, from cool to extremely cold weather

  • Cool (adjective): slightly cold
  • /ˈkuːl/
  • It’s a bit cool in here, isn’t it? I’ll close the window.
  • Chilly (adjective): uncomfortably cool or cold.
  • /ˈtʃɪl.i/
  • I felt a bit chilly so I put on a jacket.
  • Cold (adjective): of or at a low or relatively low temperature
  • /kəʊld/
  • You’ll feel cold if you don’t wear a coat.
  • Freezing (adjective): extremely cold
  • / ‘frizɪŋ /
  • I’m going to wear gloves as it’s freezing.
  • Crisp (adjective): cold, dry, and bright
  • /krɪsp/
  • It was a wonderful crisp spring morning.
  • Bleak (adjective): cold and unpleasant
  • /bliːk/
  • It was a bleak midwinter’s day
  • Raw (adjective): very cold, wet
  • /rɔː/
  • It was raw today

3. Topic 3 – Words describe natural phenomenons

  • Flood (verb/noun): to become covered in water usually due to excessive rain
  • /flʌd/
  • After the flood, it took weeks for the water level to go down.
  • Thunderstorm (noun): a storm with thunder and lightning. Also called an electrical storm.
  • /ˈθʌn.də.stɔːm/
  • Yesterday, during the thunderstorm a tree was hit by lightning.
  • A type of violent storm with strong circular winds. They are called differently depending on the area in which they take place.
    • Hurricane / ‘hɜrə,keɪn /: Atlantic and Northeast Pacific
    • Typhoon /taɪˈfuːn/: Northwest Pacific
    • Cyclone /’saɪkloʊn/: South Pacific, Indian Ocean
  • Snowstorm (noun): a storm that brings a lot of snow and usually strong winds.
  • /ˈsnəʊ.stɔːm/
  • Because there was a heavy snowstorm last night, many flights got canceled.
  • Tornado (noun): a very powerful and destructive storm that has extremely high winds.
  • /tɔːrˈneɪ.doʊ/
  • After all, Kansas is a place where there are tornadoes almost every year.
  • Earthquake (noun): a sudden and violent shaking of the ground, sometimes causing great destruction.
  • /ˈɝːθ.kweɪk/
  • Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido has been hit by a powerful earthquake this month.
  • Tsunami (noun): a long high sea wave caused by an earthquake, submarine landslide, or other disturbance.
  • /tsuːˈnɑː.mi/
  • We must remember the extraordinary strength of the earthquake and of the tsunami.
  • Volcano (noun): a mountain with a large, circular hole at the top through which lava gases, steam, and dust are forced out.
  • /vɑːlˈkeɪ.noʊ/
  • Lava from the volcano was flowing down the hillside
  • Rainbow (noun): an arch of colors in the sky formed when the sun shines through rain
  • /ˈreɪn.bəʊ/
  • I have taken many photos of beautiful rainbows so far.

Let’s take a look at the video below about weather topic and see whether you have known about these words describing the natural phenomenon and climate or not.

Exercise with vocabulary

1. Crossword (Fill in the blanks with words using the given hint)

2. Fill in the blanks

Humid Windy Overcast Strong Chilly
  • Another word for “cloudy” is “______”
  • Summers in Central Northern provinces like Nghe An are very hot and very _____.
  • There will be ______ winds in the North than in the South.
  • It’s too _____ to play badminton today.
  • Don’t forget to bring your jacket with you. It’ll be ____ tonight.

3. Match the words about weather in A with the correct details in B

A

B

  1. Drizzle
a. Covered with clouds, dull
2. Thunderstorm b. A short period of rain
3. Shower c. A gentle wind (often nice and refreshing)
4. Breeze d. To rain lightly with very fine drops
5. Overcast e. A storm with thunder and lightning. Also called electrical storm

4. Answer questions

  • What’s the weather like in your hometown in the winter?
  • What’s the weather like in your hometown in the summer?
  • Describe the weather in another city you visited.
  • Describe the type of weather you enjoy the most.

So, that were quite lots of weather vocabularies that we have learned together. Don’t forget to save and review them regularly to be able to use these words naturally. For those who are lazy to read magazines or watch English movies to enhance vocabulary, you can use the pre-made 3000 smart words from eJOY. This collection involves 3000 essential words that are most common used in English conversation. All you need to do is go to the 3000 smart words collection, save the words that you haven’t known and play games with them to memorise permanently.

Study 3000 essential words

Oh, the last thing is remember to comment down below all you answers for those exercises above. Good luck!