Recursio
Talking About the Weather in English
Weather English beyond hot and cold: freezing, pouring, chilly, humid — plus how to ask, how to react, and why the weather is small-talk fuel.
Most learners can say hot and cold and stop there. But English has a whole temperature scale — from freezing through chilly and warm to boiling — plus everyday verbs for rain. Weather is also a reliable small-talk topic, so these phrases earn their keep.
Asking
One standard question does most of the work.
The temperature scale
From coldest to hottest — the words on the cover, plus the ones in between.
Rain, sun and wind
English uses it as the subject for weather — it's raining, not "there is rain".
Weather as small talk
A weather comment plus a question tag is the classic opener — it turns a statement into an invitation to reply.
Two useful idioms: to be under the weather means to feel slightly ill (nothing to do with actual weather), and it's raining cats and dogs exists but sounds dated — it's pouring is what people actually say.
Common mistakes
Leaving out the weather subject. Everyday weather sentences use it.
✓It's raining and it's windy today.
"How is the weather like?" Mixing two questions. Use What … like? or How is …?, not both.
✓What's the weather like today? / How's the weather today?
"It's very freezing." Extreme adjectives normally don't take very.
✓It's absolutely freezing outside. / It's very cold.
Freezing and boiling already mean "extremely" — they pair with absolutely or really, while cold and hot take very.
Quick exercise
Complete each line with one word.
- ___ the weather like today?
- Take an umbrella — it's ___ . (raining very hard)
- It's ___ out there; I can see my breath. (extremely cold)
- Lovely day, ___ it?
- It's only ___ — you won't need a raincoat. (very light rain)
Answer key
- What's (What's the weather like?)
- pouring (heavy rain)
- freezing (extremely cold)
- isn't (question tag after a positive statement)
- drizzling / sprinkling (both can describe light rain; sprinkling is especially common in American English)
Practice this in Recursio
Weather words come up daily and work as an easy conversation opener, so they're worth having ready. Save the ones that match your climate to your word list in Recursio, and spaced review can bring "It's freezing" and "It's pouring" back so they're easier to use naturally.
Build your word list in Recursio → · Free to start, on iOS and Android.