Weather · El clima

19 Spanish words — each with a picture, audio and an example sentence. Weather talk runs on hacer — hace calor is literally “it makes heat”.

English	Spanish · Español	Notes
weather	el clima	Also el tiempo — yes, the same word as 'time': ¿Qué tiempo hace?
it's hot	hace calor	Literally 'it makes heat' (hacer); calor is a noun, so mucho calor, not muy.
it's cold	hace frío	'It makes cold' (hacer); 'I'm cold' is tengo frío — with tener.
it's sunny	hace sol	Literally 'it makes sun'; also está soleado.
it's windy	hace viento	The weather pattern with hacer: hace calor / frío / sol / viento.
cloudy	está nublado	🔗 Word familyFrom nube (cloud); used with estar: está nublado.
rain	la lluvia	Family: llover (to rain); ll sounds like y in most dialects.
it's raining	llueve	🔗 Word familyFrom the verb llover; stem-changing o→ue: llueve.
snow	la nieve	Family: nevar (to snow); la nevada = snowfall. The state name Nevada is the adjective: 'snow-covered'.
it's snowing	nieva	🔗 Word familyFrom nevar; stem change e→ie: nieva.
storm	la tormenta	False friend: not 'torment' (that's el tormento); a thunderstorm is tormenta eléctrica.
lightning	el rayo	Also 'ray': rayo de sol (sunbeam); the flash in the sky is el relámpago.
thunder	el trueno	🔗 Word familyFrom tronar (to thunder); the set pair is truenos y relámpagos.
cloud	la nube	Family: nublado (cloudy). The computing cloud is la nube too.
wind	el viento	Same Latin root as 'ventilation'; family: el ventilador (fan).
rainbow	el arcoíris	arco (arch, bow) + iris; one word, with an accent on the í: arcoíris.
umbrella	el paraguas	para (stops) + aguas (waters) — 'stops water'; plural is unchanged: los paraguas.
temperature	la temperatura	Near-identical cognate; to ask: ¿Qué temperatura hace?
degrees	los grados	Singular el grado — also an academic degree, like English.

See also:Time & days of the weekCore adjectives