Describe The Weather In Spanish With Useful Spanish Weather Vocabulary

Whenever we need to break the ice, we talk about the weather, don’t we?

Before you continue: I recommend you watch this video from Spring Spanish, a language learning platform I co-founded, about the weather in Spanish:

Talking about weather conditions is the typical small talk in a party where we don’t know people, when we take a taxi, or when we are waiting in a line. So, if you’re learning Spanish, having vocabulary, verbs, and expressions about the weather in Spanish at hand, will be of great help!

Keep reading in order to learn how to talk about the seasons and different weather conditions in Spanish, the use of the verbs hacer, haber, ser, and estar, and some common weather expressions.

Let’s go!

1. Useful vocabulary and chunks for the weather in Spanish

We can describe the weather in Spanish using both nouns and adjectives; and of course, depending on the season, the weather will vary.

Check the following chart to learn the vocabulary. Notice the verbs used in each case, and also that in Spanish the use of nouns is more common than in English.

Phrases for the weather in Spanish

SpanishEnglishExample
Las estacionesThe seasons“Mi estación favorita es el verano – (My favourite season is the summer.)
La primaveraspring“La primavera es templado en mi país” (The spring is warm in my country. ) 
El veranosummerEn verano hace calor – (The summer is hot.)
El otoñoautumn, fallEl otoño es fresco”. – (The autumn is cool.)
El inviernowinterEn invierno nieva mucho – (It snows a lot during winter.)

Learn these nouns to describe the weather in Spanish

Spanish nounEnglish noun
El calor“Hace mucho calor hoy”Heat – “It’s very hot today”.
El frío – “Hace mucho frío en invierno”Cold – “It’s cold during the winter”.
El sol – “Hoy hace sol(Spain)
“Hoy hay sol(Latin America)
Sun – “It’s sunny today”
La nube – “Hay muchas nubes hoy”.Cloud – “There are many clouds today”
La Lluvia – “Hay lluvias en enero”.Rain – “There are rains in January”
El viento – “Hay mucho viento en la playa”.Wind – “It’s windy on the beach”
La nieve – “Hay nieve en las montañas”Snow – “There’s snow in the mountains”
La tormenta – “Hay una tormenta eléctrica”Storm – “There’s a thunderstorm”.
La niebla “En las mañanas siempre hay nieblaFog – “The mornings are always foggy”

Learn these adjective to describe the weather in Spanish

Spanish adjectiveEnglish adjective
cálido: comfortably hot – Hoy está cálido
Caluroso: too hot –Ayer estuvo muy caluroso”.
Hot – “It’s hot today”. Hot – “Yesterday was very hot”.
Frío El día está muy fríoCold – “The day is very cold”
Soleado  – “Hoy está soleado”.Sunny – “It’s sunny today”
Nublado, nuboso“Hoy está nublado/nubosoCloudy – “It’s cloudy today”
Lluvioso“Enero es/está lluviosoRainy – “January is rainy”
Ventoso“Está ventoso en la playa”Windy – “It’s windy on the beach”
Nevado/nevada – “Las montañas están nevadasSnow-covered – “The mountains are snow-covered”
Tormentoso“Es un día tormentosoStormy – “It’s a stormy day”
Neblinoso“Es una mañana neblinosaFoggy – “It’s a foggy morning”

2. Talking about the weather: when to use estar, haber and hacer

Now that we’ve learned basic weather words in Spanish, we’ll also learn what verbs collocate with each of them and why.

The three preferred verbs to talk about the weather in Spanish are estar (to be), haber (there be), and hacer (to make or do).

The weather in the city of Barcelona, Spain.
En verano hace calor en Barcelona – (The summer is hot in Barcelona)

To answer the questions:

  • ¿Qué tiempo hace hoy? – (What’s the weather like today?)
  • ¿Cómo está el tiempo/clima hoy? – (What’s the weather like today? / How’s the weather today?)
  • ¿Qué tal está el clima hoy? – (What’s the weather like today? / How’s the weather today?)

We can use any of the following structures:

Grammar StructureUsageExample
ESTAR + ADJECTIVERefers to temporary weather conditions“Los inviernos son fríos en esta región, pero este invierno está bastante templado. – (Winters are cold in this area, but this winter is pretty warm.)
SER + ADJECTIVERefers to typical weather conditions in a season or area“El verano es caluroso en esta ciudad.” – (The summer is hot in this city.)
ESTAR + GERUNDRefers to actions occurring at the moment of speakingEstá lloviendo; está nevando.” – (It’s raining; it’s snowing.)
HABER + NOUNRefers to the presence of weather phenomenaHay sol; hay lluvia; hay nieve; hay niebla; hay viento; hay nubes, etc.” – (There is sun; there is rain; there is snow; there is fog; there is wind; there are clouds, etc.)
HACER + NOUNPreferred form in Spain with nouns like calor, frío, sol, etc.Hace calor hoy.” – (It’s hot today.)

In most Latin American Spanish-speaking countries, the preferred form with nouns like “calor” (hot), “frío” (cold), “sol” (sun), etc., is to use “haber” as follows: “Haber calor; haber frío; haber sol” etc.

Notice that the noun tiempo can refer to both time and weather:

  • “Es un buen tiempo para salir” – (It’s a good time to go out)
  • “Hace buen tiempo para salir” – (The weather is good to go out)
Summer weather in Spanish
A beautiful summer night in Callela, Spain is always a good time to say: Es un buen tiempo para salir (It’s a good time to go out)

Also, keep in mind that in Spanish, it is possible to use the words tiempo and clima to refer to the weather.

  • ¿Cómo está el tiempo/el clima hoy en Argentina?” – (What’s the weather like in Argentina today?)

3. Verbs related to weather conditions

The verbs that refer to weather conditions are defective, i.e., they are only conjugated in the 3rd person singular because they refer to an external event.

Verbs that refer to weather conditions

SpanishEnglishExample
lloverTo rainLlueve mucho en verano” – (It rains a lot in the summer.)
nevarTo snow“Está nevando en este momento” – (It’s snowing at this moment.)
nublarseTo cloud over“Había sol esta mañana, pero después se nubló – (The morning was sunny, but it clouded over later.)
lloviznarTo drizzle“Ha lloviznado toda la noche” – (It’s drizzled all night.)
tronarTo thunder“¿Está tronando?” – (Is it thundering?)

4. Special Spanish weather expressions

If you’re traveling to a Spanish-speaking country, you may want to use these expressions.

  • Me estoy asando de calor – (Be suffering from the heat)
  • Llueve a mares / Llueve a baldes – (It’s raining cats and dogs)
  • Me muero de frío – (To be freezing, to feel very cold)
  • Está helado – (It’s freezing)

If you want learn more Spanish for your holidays, check this out article with travel Spanish.

5. Learn weather in Spanish with Practice Worksheets

Practice weather expressions in Spanish with Quizlet! It’s a great flashcard-based learning platform. Another one that you could check out is Duocards – that’s why we made a DuoCards review article!

You can request more of these exercises by clicking this button below:

6. Conquer weather conversations in Spanish with Conversation Based Chunking

I hope this article helped you to have conversations about the weather in Spanish.

The easiest way to learn even more Spanish is through a method called Conversation Based Chunking™. This method (I’ve written a book on it too) is used by hundreds of thousands of students around the world with great success. 

Curious to learn more? Make sure to get your free Spanish Chunking Starter Pack, where I show you a 4-step method to learn Spanish without having to memorize word lists and grammar rules. It comes with tutorial videos for Conversation Based Chunking ™, resource lists to get you started, and much more.

Conversation Based Chunking™ is currently being used by hundreds of thousands of students across the world with great results.

If you want to get fluent in Spanish, I recommend you check out the free starter pack and start implementing the methodology in your studies.

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