Weather and seasons (extended)

A2 gave you sunny, rainy, cold, hot, snow, spring/summer/fall/winter. That’s enough for a forecast, not enough for an actual conversation. B1 weather vocabulary needs the gradations (mist vs fog vs haze, drizzle vs rain vs downpour, breeze vs gust vs gale), the extreme weather Americans now talk about every year (heat dome, polar vortex, atmospheric river), and the idioms that use weather to mean things that aren’t weather (under the weather, weather the storm, the calm before the storm).

Weather is also the safest American small-talk topic. Knowing how to comment on it precisely is a marker of B1 fluency.

Rain — gradations from light to heavy

Verbs for rain:

• rain — It’s raining.
• drizzle — It’s drizzling.
• pour / pour down — It’s pouring. / It’s pouring down out there.
• bucket down — heavy rain (more BrE but understood)
• come down — It’s really coming down.
• let up — start to slow / stop. The rain is letting up.
• ease up — same as let up. Once the rain eases up, we can go.
• clear up — weather becomes clear / sunny.

Examples:

• It’s just drizzling — I’ll walk.
• Bring an umbrella — it’s pouring.
• We had a sudden downpour around 3 PM.
• Once the rain eases up, we can leave.

Frozen and mixed precipitation

Verbs:

• snow — It’s snowing.
• sleet — It’s sleeting.
• hail — It’s hailing.
• freeze — It’s going to freeze tonight.
• thaw — frozen things become liquid. The snow is thawing.
• melt — solid becomes liquid. The ice is melting.

In US weather reporting, flurries is the most common everyday word for “a little snow that probably won’t accumulate”. We’re getting some flurries.

Storms and atmospheric phenomena

In the US, hurricanes affect the Gulf and East coasts (especially Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Carolinas). Tornadoes dominate the Midwest “Tornado Alley” and Southeast. Wildfires dominate the West (California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Arizona).

Wind — gradations and types

Adjectives:

• breezy — pleasant light wind
• gusty — strong sudden bursts
• windy — generally windy
• blustery — windy and unpleasant

Visibility — fog, mist, haze

The 2026 American context: wildfire smoke has become a recurring summer/fall issue, sometimes traveling thousands of miles (the 2023 Canadian wildfire smoke covered NYC). Vocabulary like air quality alert, smoky air, poor visibility is now standard.

Temperature

Humidity adjectives:

• humid — high moisture in air
• sticky — humid and uncomfortable
• muggy — same as sticky, very common in US summers
• dry — low humidity

In the American Southeast and Midwest, summer is famous for being muggy — it’s the most common word locals use for the suffocating humid heat.

Sky conditions

• sunny — clear and bright
• clear — no clouds
• partly cloudy — some clouds, some sun
• mostly cloudy — mostly covered
• cloudy — covered in clouds
• overcast — completely covered, gray sky
• gloomy — dark, dreary
• dreary — depressing, gray
• gray — overcast (American spelling)
• bright — sunny / clear
• clear — visibility is good

US-specific seasons vocabulary

Fall (= autumn in US)

In American English, the season between summer and winter is fall, not autumn. Both are correct, but fall is the everyday word.

• fall — September-November (AmE)
• autumn — same season; more formal / poetic / BrE
• fall foliage — colored autumn leaves (huge American tourism category)
• leaf-peeping — touristic activity of going to see fall colors (mostly New England)
• leaf-peeper — tourist who goes to see the leaves
• pumpkin spice / pumpkin spice latte / PSL — the iconic American fall flavor
• Halloween — October 31
• Thanksgiving — fourth Thursday of November
• Indian summer — a warm spell in late autumn
• harvest season — when crops are gathered

Winter

• winter — December-February
• first snow / first snowfall — first time it snows
• snow day — when school is canceled due to snow
• white Christmas — Christmas with snow
• wind chill — how cold it feels with wind
• the holidays / holiday season — Thanksgiving through New Year
• the polar vortex — extreme arctic air mass that can dip into US

Spring

• spring — March-May
• spring break — week-long school break in March / April (huge US student tradition)
• April showers — typical spring rain pattern
• bloom / in bloom — when flowers open
• allergy season / pollen season — peak allergens
• cherry blossoms — popular in DC, mid-Atlantic
• daylight saving time — clocks change in spring (and back in fall)

Summer

• summer — June-August
• summer vacation — school break (June-August)
• the dog days of summer — hottest part (late July / August)
• a heatwave — extended period of extreme heat
• a cold snap — sudden short period of cold
• air conditioning / AC — essential American summer infrastructure
• the beach — beach trips dominate American summer

Climate vs weather — the difference

A common confusion. They’re not the same.

• Weather = short-term atmospheric conditions in a place. Today’s weather, the weather is nice, bad weather.
• Climate = long-term average atmospheric pattern of a region. The climate of California, climate change, tropical climate.

A useful sentence: Climate is what you expect; weather is what you get.

2026 hot vocabulary — extreme weather and climate change

Climate change has made several once-technical terms part of everyday American conversation:

By 2026, heat dome, polar vortex, and atmospheric river are mainstream in American weather reporting and casual conversation — they are not technical jargon anymore.

Weather forecasting vocabulary

• forecast — prediction of weather
• the weather report / forecast — daily prediction
• a meteorologist — weather scientist
• a weather person / weatherman — TV weather presenter (less gendered)
• weather alert / weather advisory — official warning
• a watch — conditions are possible (e.g. tornado watch)
• a warning — conditions are happening / imminent (e.g. tornado warning)
• a heat advisory — heat warning
• windchill / wind chill factor — how cold it feels with wind
• heat index — how hot it feels with humidity
• “feels like” — perceived temperature (popular phrasing in US apps and TV: It’s 90 but feels like 102)
• percent chance of rain — probability — 60% chance of rain today

Collocations

• heavy rain / snow / wind / fog / traffic
• light rain / snow / breeze
• bitter cold / wind
• strong wind / gust / storm
• a cold / hot / mild / wet / dry day / week / season / winter / summer
• break a record (breaking heat record)
• set a record
• brace for a storm (= prepare for)
• hit (a storm hits) — The storm hit overnight.
• roll in — a storm arrives
• clear up / clear out — weather improves
• let up / ease up — rain / snow slows
• die down — wind slows
• pick up — wind / rain increases
• a chance of rain / snow / showers
• cold front / warm front — boundary of moving air mass
• high pressure / low pressure — weather systems
• air quality — pollution-related (poor air quality, air quality alert)

Phrases and expressions

• feels like — perceived temperature: It’s 90 but feels like 102.
• weather permitting — if the weather allows. We’ll have the picnic Saturday, weather permitting.
• rain or shine — regardless of weather. The event is happening rain or shine.
• come rain or shine — same
• under the weather — feeling sick. I’m a bit under the weather today.
• weather the storm — get through a difficult time. Their marriage weathered a lot of storms.
• the calm before the storm — peaceful moment before something big
• a fair-weather friend — a friend only when things are good
• storm in a teacup — much fuss over nothing (more BrE) / make a mountain out of a molehill (more AmE)
• come hell or high water — no matter what (very strong AmE)
• save for a rainy day — save money for emergencies
• chase rainbows — pursue impossible dreams
• on cloud nine — extremely happy
• every cloud has a silver lining — every bad has some good
• a bolt from the blue — a sudden surprise
• right as rain — feeling perfectly fine
• dry spell — period without rain (or without success / luck / dating)

Talking about weather — useful sentences

• It’s freezing out there.
• It’s gorgeous outside today.
• We’re supposed to get rain later.
• The forecast says snow tomorrow.
• They’re calling for thunderstorms. (they = weather people)
• It’s coming down hard.
• It just won’t let up.
• We’re in for a hot one.
• We’re in the middle of a heatwave.
• Bundle up — it’s bitter out there. (= dress warmly)
• Bring a sweater — it gets chilly at night.

AmE pronunciation note

• Weather /ˈweðɚ/ — voiced th (like this), and the AmE rhotic -er ending.
• Whether is pronounced the same way in AmE.
• Forecast /ˈfɔːrkæst/.
• Hurricane /ˈhɝːrɪkeɪn/ in AmE (vs BrE /ˈhʌrɪkən/).
• Aluminum /əˈluːmɪnəm/ — relevant only because weather coverage often mentions storm shutters, etc.

Common Russian-speaker mistakes

1. Weather is good without article. English requires the before weather in most contexts. The weather is nice today, not Weather is nice today. Exception: In good weather, we go hiking (no article in adverbial phrase).
2. How is the weather? sounds slightly off; Americans say What’s the weather like? or How’s the weather? (no is the). Both are understandable.
3. Rain used as countable. A rain is wrong; the rain is fine. The rain is heavy not A rain is heavy. (However: we had heavy rains in plural is acceptable in news / forecast context.)
4. Hot vs warm. Warm is positive (~70-80°F). Hot is more intense (~85°F+). Russian тёпло often gets mistranslated as hot. It’s warm today (good!) ≠ It’s hot today (intense).
5. Snow as a verb requires it. It is snowing, not Snow. English weather verbs need a dummy subject it: It rains, it snows, it pours, it’s raining.
6. Autumn used in casual AmE. Both work, but autumn sounds slightly formal in American English. Default to fall for everyday speech: fall colors, fall break, fall semester.
7. On the street is cold. Russian на улице doesn’t translate as on the street. In English, say outside or out: It’s cold outside / It’s cold out there.
8. -30 degrees. Russians often default to Celsius. In US, default is Fahrenheit. 30 degrees in US means just below freezing (~-1°C). Always confirm units when temperature comes up.

Summary

• Rain gradations: drizzle → shower → rain → heavy rain → downpour / pour → torrential.
• Verbs for rain: drizzle, pour, come down, let up, ease up, clear up.
• Frozen / mixed: snow, flurries, blizzard, sleet, freezing rain, hail, frost, black ice.
• Storms: thunderstorm, hurricane, typhoon, tornado / twister, wildfire.
• Wind: breeze, gust, gale; breezy / gusty / windy / blustery.
• Visibility: fog, mist, haze, smog, wildfire smoke.
• Temperature: scorching, sweltering, hot, balmy, mild, chilly, freezing, frigid, bitter cold.
• Humidity: humid, sticky, muggy, dry.
• Sky: sunny, clear, partly cloudy, overcast, gloomy, gray.
• Seasons (US): spring, summer, fall (= autumn), winter; fall foliage, leaf-peeping, Indian summer, snow day, spring break, the dog days, heatwave, cold snap.
• Climate vs weather: weather = short-term, climate = long-term pattern.
• 2026 extreme weather: climate change, heat dome, polar vortex, atmospheric river, bomb cyclone, wildfire season, drought, flash flood.
• Forecast vocab: forecast, alert / advisory, watch (possible) vs warning (imminent), wind chill, heat index, feels like, triple digits.
• Idioms: under the weather, weather the storm, the calm before the storm, fair-weather friend, rain or shine, come hell or high water, save for a rainy day, right as rain.

Next theme: Time and routines (deeper) — schedule vs reschedule, deep work, time blocking, and in the nick of time.