Spanish Lesson: The Weather

Common expressions to describe the weather in Spanish

In Spanish we have several forms for describing weather conditions. I am going to show you the most commonly used:

Describing the weather with "hace"

Hace frio (It's cold)
Hace calor (It's hot)
Hace sol (It's sunny)
Hace viento (It's windy)
Hace fresco (It's fresh)

Note: If we are able to feel in our bodies the weather phenomenon we used verb "hacer" in third person "hace".

Describing the weather with "esta + haciendo"

Está haciendo frio (It's cold)
Está haciendo calor (It's hot)
Está haciendo viento (It's windy)

Note: If we are able to feel in our bodies the weather phenomenon another way to express it is using verb "hacer" in the gerund form "haciendo".

Describing the weather with "hay"

Hay neblina (There is fog)
Hay nubes (There are clouds)
Hay mucha nieve (There is a lot of snow)
Hay mucho sol (There is a lot of sun)

Note: If we are able to see the weather phenomena we used "Hay".

Describing the weather with "está + adjective"

Está nublado (It's cloudy)
Está soleado (It's sunny)
Está caliente (It's hot)
Está caluroso (It's hot)
Está lloviendo (It's rainy)
Está nevando (It's snowing)

Note: If we are experiencing a condition as a result of a specific weather phenomenon we used "estar+adjective".

General Note: We Spanish speakers don't think much about which of the forms we need to apply according to the conditions of the weather. We just say it from memory or by intuition. So don't worry about particular rules. Just memorize this general expressions and you will be fine.

Spanish Idioms

¡Que frio! (How cold!)
¡Que calor! (How hot it is!)
¡Que mal tiempo! (What a bad weather!)
¡Que buen tiempo! (What a good weather!)
El clima está muy agradable. (The weather is very nice)
El clima está pésimo. (The weather is so bad)

Note:
Clima (weather)
Tiempo (time and weather depending of the context)