Words to Describe Weather (and Climate): Adjectives by Type
The most useful words to describe weather are sunny, cloudy, rainy, windy, stormy, foggy, snowy, hot, cold, warm, cool and humid. For more precise or vivid writing, reach for words like overcast (completely grey), drizzly (light, fine rain), blustery (strong, gusting wind), sweltering (uncomfortably hot), crisp (cold, dry and fresh) and muggy (warm and damp).
This page sorts weather adjectives by what you are describing — temperature, sky and sun, rain, wind, snow and ice, fog and air — then covers words for climate (the long-term pattern, not today’s weather), how to put several weather words together, and the mistakes learners make most. For a closer look at single topics, see adjectives for rain and adjectives for the sky.
Temperature
| From hot… | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| scorching, blazing | very hot, with strong sun | It was a scorching afternoon, and the tarmac was soft. |
| sweltering | uncomfortably hot, often airless | The sweltering classroom had one tiny fan. |
| boiling (informal) | very hot | It’s boiling out there — bring water. |
| sultry, muggy, sticky | hot and humid | A muggy evening made everyone irritable. |
| hot | high temperature | July is usually hot here. |
| warm | pleasantly hot | A warm wind came off the sea. |
| balmy | pleasantly warm and gentle | We ate outside on a balmy May night. |
| mild | not cold for the season | It’s been a mild winter so far. |
| …to cold | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| cool | slightly cold, often pleasant | The evenings turn cool in September. |
| fresh | cool and clean (UK: can mean rather cold) | It’s a bit fresh this morning — take a jumper. |
| chilly, nippy (UK, informal) | unpleasantly cold | A chilly wind blew across the platform. |
| crisp | cold, dry and bright | a crisp autumn morning |
| cold | low temperature | It was too cold to sit outside. |
| raw | cold and damp, biting | a raw February day |
| bitter, biting | very cold, especially with wind | A bitter wind cut through our coats. |
| freezing | extremely cold, at or near 0°C (32°F) | It’s freezing — the puddles have iced over. |
| frosty | cold enough for frost | The grass was white on that frosty morning. |
| arctic, glacial, polar | extremely cold (written with a small letter in this sense) | arctic conditions on the hills |
More options for one end of the scale: adjectives for hot and adjectives for cold.
Sky and sun
- sunny, bright — plenty of sunshine. a bright, sunny afternoon
- clear, cloudless — no clouds at all. a clear night, perfect for stargazing
- fair — pleasant and dry; a forecasting word. fair weather
- partly cloudy / sunny spells (UK) — a mix of sun and cloud.
- cloudy — many clouds.
- overcast — the whole sky covered in grey cloud. The sky stayed overcast all day.
- grey (US: gray), dull, leaden — dark and dreary. a leaden sky
- gloomy, dreary, dismal — dark and depressing (these describe mood as much as weather).
- hazy — the air is slightly unclear, from heat, dust or pollution.
Rain
- rainy, wet — the general words. a wet weekend
- drizzly — very light, fine rain. a drizzly Monday
- showery — short bursts of rain with dry spells between.
- spitting (informal) — just a few drops. It’s only spitting.
- pouring — raining hard. It’s pouring outside. (Also “the pouring rain”.)
- torrential — extremely heavy (used with rain, downpour). torrential rain
- stormy — rain with strong wind, often thunder.
- thundery — with thunder or likely to thunder. thundery showers
- damp — slightly wet, often cold. a damp, grey day
- humid — lots of moisture in warm air; it feels sticky rather than wet.
Some rain words describe the ground or you after rain, not the weather: soggy fields, waterlogged pitches, being soaked or drenched. The opposite, after a long dry spell: parched land.
Wind
- still, calm — no wind at all.
- breezy — a light, pleasant wind.
- windy — the general word.
- gusty — wind that comes in sudden strong bursts. gusty conditions on the bridge
- blustery — strong, gusting and noisy. a blustery March day
- stiff (of a breeze) — fairly strong and steady. a stiff breeze off the sea
- howling — loud, strong wind. a howling gale
- gale-force — very strong, as in a gale. gale-force winds
- wild, rough — stormy, especially at sea. a rough night on the ferry
Note that gale, squall, hurricane, typhoon and cyclone are nouns, not adjectives. You can use them before another noun (hurricane season), but you cannot say “the weather is hurricane”.
Snow and ice
- snowy — with snow falling or lying. a snowy morning
- wintry — cold and snowy; typical of winter. wintry showers (rain mixed with sleet or snow)
- sleety — with sleet (half-melted snow).
- icy — covered in ice. icy roads
- slushy — melting snow turned to grey mush. slushy pavements
- frozen — turned to ice. a frozen lake (not “a freezing lake”, which means the water is very cold).
- snowbound — cut off by snow. a snowbound village
Fog, mist and air
- foggy — thick fog; you can’t see far. misty — lighter; you can still see some distance.
- murky — dark and unclear.
- smoggy — polluted air, usually over a city.
- close, stuffy, airless, oppressive — warm, heavy air with no movement. It’s very close today — I think there’ll be a storm.
- fresh, clean, bracing — cool, invigorating air. a bracing walk along the cliffs
- electric (figurative) — tense, charged air before a storm.
Overall: pleasant or unpleasant
| Pleasant | Unpleasant |
|---|---|
| lovely, glorious, beautiful, gorgeous, fine, perfect, balmy, mild, settled | awful, horrible, foul, filthy (UK, informal), miserable, dreadful, nasty, unsettled, changeable |
Settled means good weather that is staying; unsettled and changeable mean it keeps changing, usually for the worse. “Filthy weather” is British and informal for cold, wet, windy weather.
Words for climate
Weather is what happens on a particular day; climate is the usual pattern over many years. Some adjectives are used mainly for climate:
| Adjective | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| tropical | hot and usually humid all year | Singapore has a tropical climate. |
| temperate | without extremes of heat or cold | Much of western Europe is temperate. |
| arid, semi-arid | very little rain | an arid region where farming needs irrigation |
| Mediterranean | hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters | California’s coast has a Mediterranean climate. |
| continental | hot summers, cold winters, far from the sea | a continental climate with big seasonal swings |
| maritime, oceanic | mild and wet, shaped by the sea | Ireland’s maritime climate |
| polar | extremely cold all year | polar regions |
| harsh, severe, extreme | difficult to live in | a harsh mountain climate |
Mediterranean keeps its capital letter because it comes from a place name. Arctic takes a capital when it names the region (the Arctic Circle) but not when it just means “very cold” (arctic temperatures).
Putting weather words together
- Use commas between two descriptions of the same kind: a cold, wet afternoon; a bright, breezy day. (The rule is explained in commas between adjectives.)
- Weather often uses it + be + adjective: It’s windy. It was freezing last night. English needs that “it”; you cannot say “Is windy.”
- Compound weather adjectives take a hyphen before a noun: a rain-soaked pitch, sun-baked streets, a wind-chill factor.
- Degree words: a bit / quite / very windy; but extreme words like freezing and boiling take absolutely or really, not very: It’s absolutely freezing.
Common mistakes
| Wrong | Right | Why |
|---|---|---|
| It was a fog day. | It was a foggy day. | Fog is a noun; the adjective is foggy. |
| The weather is very humidity. | The weather is very humid. | Humidity is the noun. |
| It’s very freezing. | It’s absolutely freezing. | Freezing already means “extremely cold”. |
| Today is more hot than yesterday. | Today is hotter than yesterday. | One-syllable adjectives take -er. |
| The lake turned freezing overnight. | The lake froze overnight. | Freezing describes temperature; ice is frozen. |
| Is raining. | It’s raining. | Weather sentences need it. |
| The weather was hurricane. | There was a hurricane. / The weather was stormy. | Hurricane is a noun. |
Weather words used figuratively
Many weather adjectives describe people and situations too: a stormy relationship, a sunny personality, a frosty reception (unfriendly), a cloudy memory, a breezy tone (casual, confident), chilly relations between two countries, a glacial pace (very slow). These are not about the weather at all, so keep them out of a weather description unless you mean the double meaning.
Weather in a description: before and after
Before: It was a bad day. The weather was very cold and very windy, and it was raining.
After: It was a raw, blustery morning. Sleety rain blew sideways across the car park, and the sky hung low and leaden over the town.
What changed: two vague intensifiers (“very cold”, “very windy”) became precise adjectives (raw, blustery); the rain got a type (sleety) and a movement (blew sideways); and the sky added colour and weight (leaden). One or two exact weather words usually do more than a list of five general ones.
Practice
Choose the best word: overcast, drizzly, muggy, crisp, gusty, frozen, temperate.
- No sun, no rain — just a flat grey sky all day. It was ______.
- Hot and damp; your shirt sticks to your back. It’s ______.
- Cold, dry and bright, with frost on the leaves: a ______ morning.
- Fine, light rain that barely wets you: a ______ afternoon.
- The wind kept snatching at our umbrellas in sudden bursts. It was ______.
- We skated on the ______ pond.
- Britain has a ______ climate: rarely very hot or very cold.
Answers: 1 overcast. 2 muggy. 3 crisp. 4 drizzly. 5 gusty. 6 frozen. 7 temperate.
Quick answers
What are some words to describe weather? Sunny, cloudy, rainy, windy, stormy, foggy, snowy, hot, cold, warm, cool, humid, overcast, drizzly, blustery, crisp, muggy.
What is a word for nice weather? Lovely, glorious, fine, fair, balmy, mild or settled.
What is a word for bad weather? Foul, miserable, dreadful, stormy, unsettled, or (UK, informal) filthy.
What is the difference between weather and climate adjectives? Weather words describe a day or a moment (a drizzly morning); climate words describe the long-term pattern of a place (a temperate climate).
Is it “a humid, cold day” or “a cold, humid day”? Both are fine, with a comma between them. Most writers put temperature first: a cold, damp day.
New to adjectives? Start with what an adjective is.
Checked against Merriam-Webster, the Chicago Manual of Style and the AP Stylebook. Spotted an error? Tell us — see our editorial policy.
