Weather Vocabulary

A HEATWAVE is a continuous period of unusually hot weather.

A SHOWER is a brief period of rain.

A BLIZZARD is a storm with a lot of snow and strong winds.

SLEET is partly melted falling snow.

FOG is a thick cloud that forms close to the ground or to water and is difficult to see through.

CHILLY is an informal adjective meaning cold.

MILD is used to describe weather which is warm and pleasant, especially warmer than usual for the time of year.

THUNDER is the loud nouns that you sometimes hear in the sky during a storm.

LIGHTNING is the bright flashes of light that you see in the sky during a storm.

DRIZZLE is rain that falls in small, light drops.

A FLOOD is a large amount of water covering an area that is usually dry.

A BREEZE is a light wind.

MIST is a thin fog.

A DROUGHT is a long period of time when there is little or no rain and crops die.

HAIL is rain that freezes in the sky and falls to the ground as small balls of ice.

A HURRICAINE is a violent storm with extremly strong winds and heavy rain.

The picture above is an illustration of the following story - a simple fable, but one of my favourite stories:

The Sun and the Wind once had a quarrel as to which was the stronger. Each believed himself to be the more powerful. While they were arguing they saw a traveler walking along the country highway, wearing a great cloak.

"Here is a chance to test our strength," said the Wind; "let us see which of us is strong enough to make that traveler take off his cloak; the one who can do that shall be acknowledged the more powerful."

"Agreed," said the Sun.

Instantly the Wind began to blow; he puffed and tugged at the man's cloak, and raised a storm of hail and rain, to beat at it. But the colder it grew and the more it stormed, the tighter the traveler held his cloak around him. The Wind could not get it off.

Now it was the Sun's turn. He shone with all his beams on the man's shoulders. As it grew hotter and hotter, the man unfastened his cloak; then he threw it back; at last he took it off! The Sun had won.

from Stories to Tell to Children by Sara Cone Bryant