Weather in Chinese: Vocabulary, Small Talk, and Forecasts
Weather in Chinese is 天气 / 天氣 (tiānqì), and the question you'll ask most is 今天天气怎么样？(Jīntiān tiānqì zěnmeyàng? — "How's the weather today?"). The core answers all use one elegant pattern: precipitation falls, so "it's raining" is 下雨 (xià yǔ, "fall rain") and "it's snowing" is 下雪 (xià xuě, "fall snow"). This guide covers the essential vocabulary, temperature and seasons, forecast language, the small talk locals actually use, and the typhoon and air-quality words daily life in Chinese-speaking cities runs on.
- 天气 / 天氣 (tiānqì) = weather; ask 今天天气怎么样？"How's the weather today?"
- Rain and snow "fall": 下雨 (xià yǔ) it's raining, 下雪 (xià xuě) it's snowing, 下雨了 it's started raining.
- Temperature is number + 度 (dù): 三十度 = 30°C. Celsius everywhere, 零下 (língxià) for below zero.
- Small talk formula: 今天真 + adjective — 今天真热 "It's so hot today."
- 天气 is today's weather; 气候 / 氣候 (qìhòu) is climate — mixing them up sounds odd fast.
The essential weather words
| Chinese (simp. / trad.) | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 晴天 | qíngtiān | sunny day, clear skies |
| 阴天 / 陰天 | yīntiān | overcast day |
| 多云 / 多雲 | duōyún | cloudy (partly) |
| 下雨 | xià yǔ | to rain |
| 下雪 | xià xuě | to snow |
| 刮风 / 颳風 | guā fēng | to be windy (wind "scrapes") |
| 雾 / 霧 | wù | fog |
| 雷阵雨 / 雷陣雨 | léizhènyǔ | thunderstorm (forecast word) |
| 温度 / 溫度 | wēndù | temperature |
阴天 vs 多云 is a distinction English blurs: 多云 means clouds with blue sky between them, while 阴天 means a fully grey lid over the city. Chinese forecasts treat them as different conditions, and so do native speakers.
Why does rain "fall"? The 下 pattern
Chinese doesn't say "it rains" — there's no dummy "it." Instead, precipitation uses the verb 下 (xià, to fall/descend) plus the thing that falls: 下雨 rain, 下雪 snow, 下冰雹 (xià bīngbáo) hail. The pattern generalizes, so learn it once and you can parse any forecast.
外面在下雨。
Wàimiàn zài xià yǔ.
It's raining outside. (在 marks it as happening right now.)
下雨了，我没带伞。／下雨了，我沒帶傘。
Xià yǔ le, wǒ méi dài sǎn.
It's started raining, and I didn't bring an umbrella. (了 signals the change: it wasn't raining, now it is.)
昨天晚上下了大雪。
Zuótiān wǎnshang xià le dà xuě.
It snowed heavily last night. (Intensity goes on the noun: 大雨 heavy rain, 小雨 light rain.)
Wind gets its own verb: 刮风 / 颳風 (guā fēng), literally "the wind scrapes." So a full grim forecast reads 明天刮风，还下雨 — "windy tomorrow, and rainy too."
Temperature and the four seasons
Temperature is a number plus 度 (dù, degrees) — Celsius is universal in the Chinese-speaking world. Ask 今天多少度？(Jīntiān duōshao dù?) on the Mainland or 今天幾度？(Jīntiān jǐ dù?) in Taiwan; both mean "How many degrees is it today?" and both are understood everywhere. Below zero is 零下 (língxià): 零下五度 = −5°C.
Note that 暖和 and 凉快 are compliments — comfortable warmth and welcome coolness — while 热 and 冷 are complaints. The seasons are refreshingly regular: 春天 (chūntiān) spring, 夏天 (xiàtiān) summer, 秋天 (qiūtiān) autumn, 冬天 (dōngtiān) winter.
上海的夏天很闷热。／上海的夏天很悶熱。
Shànghǎi de xiàtiān hěn mēnrè.
Shanghai summers are muggy.
How do you read a Chinese weather forecast?
The forecast is 天气预报 / 天氣預報 (tiānqì yùbào), and it has its own compact register. Forecast temperature is 气温 / 氣溫 (qìwēn) rather than 温度, highs and lows are 最高 (zuìgāo) and 最低 (zuìdī), and conditions chain together with 转 / 轉 (zhuǎn, turning to): 多云转晴 "cloudy turning clear."
明天多云转晴，最高气温三十五度。／明天多雲轉晴，最高氣溫三十五度。
Míngtiān duōyún zhuǎn qíng, zuìgāo qìwēn sānshíwǔ dù.
Tomorrow cloudy turning clear, high of 35°C. (Genuine forecast syntax — no verbs needed.)
Other forecast staples: 阵雨 / 陣雨 (zhènyǔ, showers), 有雨 (yǒu yǔ, rain expected), 降温 / 降溫 (jiàngwēn, temperatures dropping). Forecast language is a beautiful on-ramp for learners because it's formulaic — a dozen chunks cover nearly every forecast you'll ever read.
Weather small talk: 今天真热
Weather small talk in Chinese works exactly like it does everywhere: state the obvious with feeling. The formula is 今天真 + adjective, or 好 + adjective for extra feeling.
今天真热！／今天真熱！
Jīntiān zhēn rè!
It's so hot today! (The single most reusable sentence in this post.)
又下雨了。
Yòu xià yǔ le.
It's raining again. (又…了 = weary resignation, universal in rainy season.)
天气这么好，我们出去走走吧。／天氣這麼好，我們出去走走吧。
Tiānqì zhème hǎo, wǒmen chūqù zǒuzou ba.
The weather's so nice — let's go out for a walk.
Weather words are core beginner vocabulary precisely because they carry so much daily conversation, and they show up early in graded reading. Two free stories in the Literate Chinese catalog run on this exact vocabulary: It Rained, Where Did They Go? at true-beginner level and The Snow Queen for snow and winter words. Meeting 下雨了 in a story a dozen times beats memorizing it once — that's the whole logic of Chinese reading practice.
天气 vs 气候: weather vs climate
天气 / 天氣 (tiānqì) is what's happening outside right now or this week. 气候 / 氣候 (qìhòu) is climate — the long-term pattern of a place. 台北的冬天天气常常不好 ("Taipei's winter weather is often bad") describes this season; 台北是亚热带气候 ("Taipei has a subtropical climate") describes the place. Swap one for the other and you'll be understood, but it sounds as odd as it would in English — and 气候变化 / 氣候變遷 (climate change) only ever takes 气候. Note the regional wrinkle: Mainland media usually say 气候变化 (qìhòu biànhuà), while Taiwan standardly writes 氣候變遷 (qìhòu biànqiān).
Typhoons and air quality: the weather words daily life actually uses
Real weather talk in Chinese cities goes beyond sun and rain. These are the words that decide whether school is open and whether you wear a mask:
| Chinese (simp. / trad.) | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 台风 / 颱風 | táifēng | typhoon |
| 梅雨 | méiyǔ | the East Asian "plum rain" season (≈ May–June) |
| 潮湿 / 潮濕 | cháoshī | humid, damp |
| 雾霾 / 霧霾 | wùmái | smog, haze |
| 空气质量 / 空氣品質 | kōngqì zhìliàng / kōngqì pǐnzhí | air quality (Mainland / Taiwan wording) |
| 口罩 | kǒuzhào | face mask |
台风要来了，明天停班停课。／颱風要來了，明天停班停課。
Táifēng yào lái le, míngtiān tíng bān tíng kè.
The typhoon is coming — work and school are cancelled tomorrow. (In Taiwan this is a 颱風假, a "typhoon day off," announced city by city the night before.)
Two regional notes worth knowing. "Air quality" is one of the genuinely split Mainland–Taiwan word pairs: 空气质量 on the Mainland, 空氣品質 in Taiwan — the 质量/品質 split runs through many quality-related words. And 雾霾 (smog) plus PM2.5 — said in Chinese exactly as the English letters and digits — became everyday Mainland vocabulary during the 2010s air-pollution years; weather apps there report air quality beside the temperature.
Frequently asked questions
How do you say "It's raining" in Chinese?
下雨了 (xià yǔ le) — literally "fall rain," with 了 marking that the situation has changed (it just started). For rain in progress, say 在下雨 (zài xià yǔ), "it's raining right now." There's no "it" subject; the rain simply falls.
What's the difference between 天气 and 气候?
天气 (tiānqì) is weather — short-term, what's outside today. 气候 (qìhòu) is climate — the long-term pattern of a region. Ask about 天气 before a picnic and 气候 before moving to a new city. "Climate change" is 气候变化 on the Mainland, 氣候變遷 in Taiwan.
How do you ask about the weather in Chinese?
今天天气怎么样？(Jīntiān tiānqì zěnmeyàng?) is the standard "How's the weather today?" For temperature specifically, ask 今天多少度？(Mainland) or 今天幾度？(common in Taiwan). Answers come back as a number plus 度 — always Celsius.
Is 阴天 the same as 多云?
No. 多云 (duōyún) is partly cloudy — clouds with visible sky. 阴天 (yīntiān) is fully overcast — a solid grey sky. Chinese forecasts distinguish the two conditions, and the chain 多云转阴 ("partly cloudy turning overcast") only makes sense because they differ.
What does 下 mean in 下雨 and 下雪?
下 (xià) means "to fall" or "descend." Precipitation of every kind uses it: 下雨 rain, 下雪 snow, 下冰雹 hail. It's the same 下 as in 下面 (below) and 下午 (afternoon — the "descending" half of the day), so one character repays learning many times over.
