What’s the weather like? is ¿Qué tiempo hace? The word tiempo means ‘time’, but it is used differently in English and Spanish. Compare this:
No tengo tiempo. I don’t have time.
¿Qué tiempo hace? What’s the weather like?
Lo hice tres veces. I did it three times.
Estudio los tiempos verbales. I study the verbal tenses.
Let’s see now the words for the weather:
La lluvia, llueve, está lloviendo, llover. The rain, it rains, it is raining, to rain.
La llovizna, llovizna, está lloviznando, lloviznar. The drizzle, it drizzles, it is drizzling, to drizzle.
El hielo, hiela, está helando, helar. The ice, it freezes, it is freezing, to freeze.
La nieve, nieva, está nevando, nevar. The snow, it snows, it is snowing, to snow.
El granizo, graniza, está granizando, granizar. The hail, it hails, it is hailing, to hail.
We can talk about maximum, minimum, high, low, and average temperature (temperatura máxima, mínima, alta, baja y media).
To know more about the weather, you need to study how to use the verb “hacer”, so inmediately after this, read blog 53. We use “hace” followed by Nouns in these cases:
Hace frío. It is cold.
Hace calor. It is hot.
Hace buen tiempo. The weather is fine.
Hace mal tiempo. The weather is bad.
Hace viento. It is windy.
Hace sol. It is sunny.
Hace 5 grados. It is 5 degrees.
Hace 5 grados bajo cero. It is minus 5 degrees.
Remember that hace frío is ‘it is cold’ y hace calor is ‘it is hot’, whereas tengo frío is ‘I am cold’ y tengo calor is ‘I am hot’.
We also use “hay” followed by Nouns in these cases:
Hay un arcoiris. There is a rainbow.
Hay niebla. It is foggy.
Hay neblina. It is misty.
Hay nubes. There are clouds.
Hay truenos. There are thunders.
Hay relámpagos. There are lightnings.
Hay una tormenta. There is a storm.
Hay chubascos. There are downpours.
Hay un huracán. There is a hurricane.
Finally, we use “está” plus adjective in these cases:
Está nublado. It is cloudy.
Está soleado. It is sunny.
Está templado. It is mild.
Está tormentoso. It is stormy.
Está ventoso. It is windy.
Está lluvioso. It is rainy.
Está despejado. It is clear.
Está húmedo. It is wet.
Está seco. It is dry.
Notice that to say “hot”, we have two words. We use caluroso, calurosa for the weather: un día caluroso, una semana calurosa, un verano caluroso (a hot day, a hot week, a hot summer). We use caliente for food, drinks or objects: una cena caliente, un café caliente, una plancha caliente (a hot dinner, a hot coffee, a hot iron).
Here you have a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng6w2CZeYJI&t=11s
