70 common Spanish weather terms
Spanish weather terms are important to know, whether you plan to use them in daily chit-chat or to stay safe during a tropical storm. To talk about the weather, you’ll first need to familiarize yourself with a variety of words and expressions. You can get by with a knowledge of common adjectives like caluroso (hot), but you’ll also benefit from learning some nouns and verbs.
Let’s face it: There are lots of different weather conditions and patterns — especially when we consider the tropical forests, mountains and beaches that cover vast swathes of Latin America. That means we need lots of ways to describe the climate. Since we use Spanish weather terms to tell stories about the past or forecast the future, we also need to learn how to use the past, present and future tenses. Here’s everything you need to know about Spanish weather terms.
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Spanish weather vocabulary terms
Let’s start with the most basic vocabulary. Here are the most common Spanish weather terms that you can use to be understood in any Spanish-speaking country. Though some vocabulary can vary by country, these are the common Spanish weather terms in Mexico (and a good number of other Latin American countries).
Adjectives
Nouns
Verbs
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Grammar for weather words in Spanish
Now that you have a few key Spanish weather terms in your arsenal, let’s learn how to use them in phrases and sentences.
‘Hacer’ + adjective
The verb hacer (to do/make) is often used with a noun to describe the weather in Spanish. This doesn’t translate literally into English, so Spanish language learners must simply get used to these common expressions for weather.
To talk about the present use hace:
To talk about the past use hacía:
To talk about the future use hará:
‘Estar’+ adjective
We can also use estar (to be) with an adjective to describe the weather.
To talk about the present, use está:
To talk about the past, use the simple past tense estuvo:
To talk about the future use the simple future tense estará:
You can also use estar + gerund:
‘Haber’ + noun
The verb haber (to be) is used with a noun to describe the weather, as well.
To talk about the present, use hay:
To talk about the past, use the simple past tense hubo:
To talk about the future, use habrá or habrán:
Weather expressions in Spanish
Finally, let’s cover how to ask about the weather using idiomatic Spanish weather terms.
Asking about the weather
To ask about the weather today, use these questions:
To ask about the past or future, use estar:
For a more general impression of a certain climate, we can use the verb ser (to be) because it feels more permanent than estar:
Idiomatic expressions
Here are a few idiomatic expressions to describe the weather:
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Alison Maciejewski Cortez
Alison Maciejewski Cortez is Chilean-American, born and raised in California. She studied abroad in Spain, has lived in multiple countries, and now calls Mexico home. She believes that learning how to order a beer in a new language reveals a lot about local culture. Alison speaks English, Spanish, and Thai fluently and studies Czech and Turkish. Her tech copywriting business takes her around the world and she is excited to share language tips as part of the Lingoda team. Follow her culinary and cultural experiences on X.
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