88 Spanish Weather Vocabulary Words and Expressions You Need to Know
Over the past two years of my time abroad in Spain, there have been countless moments when bringing up the weather has saved me from otherwise uncomfortable silences with Spaniards.
Luckily, the weather in Madrid is sporadic enough (and extreme enough) to always be a relevant topic when I find myself grasping at straws to make small talk.
In this blog post, you’ll learn 88 weather expressions in Spanish so you can say more than just “it’s hot” and “it’s cold.”
Contents
- How to Ask About the Weather in Spanish
- Spanish Weather Words
- Spanish Weather Expressions with Hacer
- Spanish Weather Expressions with Haber
- Spanish Weather Expressions with Estar
- Other Spanish Weather Expressions
- Using El Tiempo vs. El Clima to Talk About Weather in Spanish
- And One More Thing…
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
How to Ask About the Weather in Spanish
Like English, there are multiple ways to ask about the weather in Spanish. Here are a few you’ll hear and use all the time:
- ¿Cómo está el clima?
- ¿Cómo está el tiempo?
- ¿Qué tal el clima?
- ¿Qué tiempo hace?
- ¿Cómo es afuera? (Lit. How is it outside?)
- ¿Cómo está por fuera?
Spanish Weather Words
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| El tiempo | Weather |
| El clima | Climate, weather |
| Llover | To rain |
| Nevar | To snow |
| Tronar | To thunder |
| Chispear | To drizzle |
| Lloviznar | To drizzle |
| La granizada | Hailstorm |
| El bochorno | Sultry or muggy weather |
| La tormenta | Storm |
| La racha / ráfaga | Gust (of wind) |
| El sol | Sun |
| La luna | Moon |
| La nube | Cloud |
| El viento | Wind |
| La nieve | Snow |
| El hielo | Ice |
| La niebla | Fog |
| El granizo | Hail |
| El pronóstico | Forecast |
| Grados | Degrees |
| La brisa | Breeze |
Spanish Weather Expressions with Hacer
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Hace buen tiempo | The weather is good |
| Hace un día despejado | It’s a clear day |
| Hace mal tiempo | The weather is bad |
| Hace un día tormentoso | It’s a stormy day |
| Hace frío | It’s cold |
| Hace calor | It’s hot |
| Hace fresco | It’s brisk/chilly |
| Hace sol | It’s sunny |
| Hace un día soleado | It’s a sunny day |
| Hace viento | It’s windy |
| Hace aire | It’s breezy |
| Hace un calor tremendo | It’s scorching hot |
| Hace muchísimo frío / calor | It’s very, very cold/hot |
| Aquí siempre hace mucho frío / calor en esta época | It’s always very cold/hot here at this time of the year |
| Hace un día horrible | It’s a horrible day (weather wise) |
| Hace un día muy bueno / malo | It's a very good/bad day |
| No hace nada de frío / calor | It’s not cold/hot at all |
| Hace un frío que pela | It’s freezing cold |
Spanish Weather Expressions with Haber
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Hay nubes | It's cloudy |
| Hay lloviznas | It's sprinkling |
| Hay lluvias torrenciales | It's pouring |
| Hay granizo | It's hailing |
| Hay humedad | It's humid |
| Hay niebla | It's foggy |
| Hay neblina | It's misty |
| Hay tormenta | It's stormy |
| Hay relámpagos | It’s lightning |
| Hay un huracán | There’s a hurricane |
| Hay un tornado | There’s a tornado |
| Hay un terremoto | There’s an earthquake |
| Hay una inundación | There’s a flood |
| Hay sol | The sun is shining |
| Hay luna | The moon is out |
Spanish Weather Expressions with Estar
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Está nublado | It's cloudy |
| Está lloviznando | It's drizzling |
| Está lloviendo muy fuerte | It's raining very strong |
| Está granizando | It's hailing |
| Está bochornoso | It’s muggy |
| Está húmedo | It’s humid |
| Estamos a... grados bajo cero | We are at...degrees below zero |
| Estamos a... grados | We're at...degrees |
| Está lloviendo a cántaros | It’s raining cats and dogs |
Other Spanish Weather Expressions
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| ¿Tienes frío / calor? | Are you cold/hot? |
| Estoy sudado | I'm sweaty |
| ¡Estoy sudando como un pollo! | I’m sweating like a chicken! (Think: I’m sweating like a pig!) |
| Me estoy asando | I’m roasting |
| Estoy cocido | I’m boiling (hot) |
| Estoy congelado | I’m freezing cold |
| Estoy helado | I'm freezing cold |
| ¡Qué frío / calor tengo! | I am so cold/hot! |
| Me muero de calor / frío | I’m dying of heat/cold |
| Soy muy friolero / friolento | I’m a wimp when it comes to the cold |
| ¡Ay qué calor! | It’s so hot! |
| ¡Qué frío / calor hace! | It’s really cold/hot! |
| Por mucho que quiera ser, en julio poco ha de llover | As much as it wants to rain, in July it will do so very little |
| Julio caliente, quema al más valiente | July heats and burns even the bravest |
| En agosto, sandía y melón buen refresco son | In August, watermelon and melon are good refreshment. |
| La primavera, la sangre altera | Spring is in the air |
| Agosto fríe el rostro | August fries your face |
| Hasta el 40 de mayo, no te quites el sayo | Don’t take your sweater off until May 40th |
May 40th is a silly way of saying June 9th.
This extremely madrileño (from Madrid) phrase refers to the fact that Madrid weather can be a bit fickle so you shouldn’t assume there will be no rain or cold just because the summer weather seems to have arrived.
Sayo is an old-fashioned Spanish word meaning “smock” or “tunic” but would refer to a sweater in modern times.
Using El Tiempo vs. El Clima to Talk About Weather in Spanish
In Spanish, the word tiempo is extremely versatile. Depending on the context, it can be used to mean any one of the following:
- Time
- Weather
- A moment
- An era
- A half (in a sports event entretiempo or medio tiempo is “half-time”)
- Cycle (think wash cycle for clothing)
- Tempo or movement (music)
- Tense (grammar)
Note that the Spanish word clima is preceded by the masculine article el despite its feminine a ending. Many words break the gender rule like this in Spanish and must be memorized.
In English, “climate” isn’t used to talk about current weather conditions. But in Spanish, el clima can be used interchangeably with el tiempo in small talk.
However, it’s also used to talk about climate like in English.
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Thanks to all these Spanish weather expressions, you’ll finally have a linguistic umbrella to bring to every Spanish conversation.
You’ll be prepared, rain or shine!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
And One More Thing…
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