Baby, it's cold outside, but do you know how
to actually talk about winter weather like a
native speaker? Well, after today, you will.
Hello, English learners. Welcome back to the
Learn English podcast, the podcast that teaches
English in context so you can learn naturally.
On today's episode, I want to focus on vocabulary
and specifically winter vocabulary. I want to
talk about the words and phrases that you will
hear when people are discussing winter. So if
you're interested in learning these phrases,
well, of course, practicing your listening comprehension,
then follow along because we're about to begin.
Before we get started, I want to remind you to
look at the description of this podcast episode.
There you will find a list of the words and phrases
that I used so you can take them, study them,
and build your English vocabulary. Now let's
talk about these winter vocabulary terms. I'm
going to start off with some things that are
related to cold weather. Because wintertime usually
means that the temperature has gotten colder,
that the temperature has gone down. I know it's
not like that everywhere. I have seen a couple
YouTube comments about people talking about Bogota,
specifically how the weather does not change
all year round. But for most of the world, the
temperature changes with the seasons. So let's
talk about these words that we use when the weather
gets cooler. The first term is freezing. Freezing
literally means that something is the temperature
where water freezes. That would be 0 degrees
Celsius or 32 degrees Fahrenheit. reminder i
am from the united states we use fahrenheit for
our temperatures so if you are in the united
states you're only going to use fahrenheit if
you're not from the united states i understand
that you have no clue what that means so i'm
going to also be including the celsius temperature
If someone tells you that it is freezing outside,
if they are being literal, that means it is zero
degrees Celsius, 32 Fahrenheit. But a lot of
times people will just say that phrase, even
though it's really not that cold. for example
i live here in southern california it does not
get to actual freezing temperatures here even
during the winter it is very rare that the temperature
ever goes below freezing where i live so instead
people say this when it's a lot warmer than actual
freezing temperatures Normally, the lowest the
temperature gets here during the winter is about
13 degrees Celsius, which is around 45 degrees
Fahrenheit, and that is considered extremely
cold for where I am. When the temperature does
get that low, people, at least in my part of
Southern California, will say that it's freezing.
I've had students come in with sweatshirts on
and dressed very warmly, and they come into my
classroom and they say it's freezing outside.
And actually it's like 19 degrees Celsius, but
for them that is freezing. In other parts of
the country though, they are used to snow. They
are used to having that freezing weather. So
for them, they are not going to say that it's
freezing when it is 15 degrees Celsius outside.
Instead, people will usually use the term chilly.
Chili is usually used when it's around 13 to
17 degrees Celsius, about 45 to 55 Fahrenheit.
That is cold enough where you would use a sweatshirt
or a jacket, but not really the type of weather
where you would have any snow, nothing that's
really extremely cold. So chili can be used when
it is colder than normal, when you need to dress
appropriately for the weather, but it's not extremely
cold. yet. When you do have those colder temperatures
you can get a thin layer of ice that forms on
the ground and if you park your car outside you
might notice that there's also a thin layer of
ice on your car, especially on your windows.
That is called frost. so frost is the thin layer
of ice that is usually seen in the mornings and
normally at least here in southern california
it burns off after a few hours it doesn't stick
around because it warms up during the day but
during the night time the temperature is low
enough for that frost to occur you might also
see the word frosty when someone is describing
the conditions they might say that it's frosty
outside or they might say that there is some
frost outside. So frost would be the noun. Frosty
would be the adjective that you're using to describe
the noun. Even though it might not be extremely
cold, it might feel colder than it is if you
have a lot of wind chill. Wind can make the air
feel colder than it is. When it is windy and
cold, it can make the air feel even colder. So
if you're watching the news, if you're watching
the weather report, They might talk about the
wind chill factor. That is the difference that
the wind makes in what the temperature feels
like. For example, you might hear on the news
that the temperature is 15 degrees Celsius, but
with the wind chill factor, it feels like it
is zero degrees. That is telling you that the
wind is making it feel like it is 15 degrees
cooler than it really is. We've talked about
when it is freezing, when the temperature reaches
that freezing point of water where it hits zero
degrees Celsius and water freezes. Now, if you
hear the term sub -zero temperatures, this is
very important, at least in the United States,
we are talking about the Fahrenheit scale. So
the freezing point of water, that zero degrees
Celsius again is 32 Fahrenheit. So there are
32 degrees between the freezing point of water
and the zero point on the Fahrenheit scale. Zero
degrees Fahrenheit is actually negative 17 degrees
Celsius. Very, very cold. In places like Michigan
or Wisconsin, New York, Illinois, the places
at the northern part of the United States, they
can get sub -zero temperatures. And by sub -zero,
we're saying below the zero degree mark on the
Fahrenheit scale. So colder than negative 17
degrees Celsius. If you hear on the news that
there is going to be sub -zero temperatures overnight,
that is extremely important to be aware of. That
can be very, very dangerous because, again, we're
talking temperatures of negative 18 degrees Celsius
or below. Those are extremely cold and dangerous
conditions. Colder weather can also mean a lot
of precipitation. Precipitation means water raining,
water falling from the sky. I did an episode
on different things that we call rain, different
words that we use to describe rain. I will leave
a link for that episode. On this episode, I want
to focus more on snow and the different types
of freezing rain. So the first one that you have
is hail. Hail usually occurs in warmer weather.
For example, where I am in Southern California,
we can get hail during the summertime when it
is like 30, 35 degrees Celsius. So hail doesn't
necessarily need that cold weather, even though
it is frozen water, even though they are pieces
of ice. Usually when they're talking on the news
about hail, they will describe the size. You
might have something that is pea size, so the
size of a pea, which is relatively small. Or
if it's very large pieces, you'll hear them called
golf ball size, the size of a golf ball. Those
are very dangerous. That can cause a lot of damage
to houses and cars, especially if you're driving.
So you never want to be out in hail, especially
golf ball sized hail, because that can do a lot
of damage. Something that is very similar to
hail is freezing rain. I remember the first time
I heard this term, I kind of laughed because
I thought, isn't frozen rain just snow? But freezing
rain is actually something that's different.
Freezing rain is when it is raining outside and
you see droplets of water falling. You see regular
rain droplets. But what happens is that when
those droplets hit something, they freeze. This
is especially true when the droplets hit something
very cold. For example, the ground or maybe your
car. Maybe your car is very cold. When those
droplets touch that cold surface, they freeze
and turn into ice. So this is called freezing
rain and this is More of an issue for places
back east because the ground can become very
cold. So when the raindrops hit the sidewalk,
they can freeze and that can make it difficult
to walk. If you are someone who is trying to
walk to work or walk wherever you need to go,
then that can be difficult to do because of that
freezing rate. And this can also cause something
called black ice. Black ice is dangerous if you
are driving on it because it is ice that you
cannot see. The asphalt for the roads is black,
and when you get this layer of ice on top of
it, and that ice does not have a different color,
it just looks black, you might be driving and
you might think that there is no ice on the roads.
But actually, there is a thin layer of ice. So
if you were traveling too fast, or if you're
trying to make a turn, you might hit black ice,
and you might be in a car accident because of
it. These are usually called patches of black
ice. So the road might be completely normal and
then there might be just a small section of this
black ice. So if someone says that they hit a
spot of black ice or they hit a patch of black
ice while they were driving, this is what they're
referring to. Usually when you hit that, when
your tires go over it, you feel that loss of
traction for your tires. You feel your car move.
And like I said, it can be very dangerous. Another
thing that's similar is sleet. Sleet is kind
of in between freezing rain and hail. Like I
said, hail forms during warmer weather, usually
in thunderstorms. Sleet forms in colder weather.
Again, you have rain droplets at the beginning.
When the water starts falling from the sky, it
is in the form of liquid water, rain droplets.
But while they are falling, they freeze and turn
into little pellets of ice. So it feels very
similar to hail because it is still pellets of
ice that are falling that ultimately hit the
ground. So these freeze before they hit the ground,
which makes it different from freezing rain.
And they form in cooler weather, which makes
it different from hail. Then you can also have
actual snowfall. When you have a very short snowstorm,
something that lasts maybe only a few minutes
and then disappears, this is called a flurry.
This is a short snowfall that does not accumulate
on the ground. Usually as soon as the snow falls
and actually reaches the ground, it melts right
away because it's not actually cold enough to
accumulate on the ground. Usually the ground
is so warm that it just melts the snow. If the
snow does accumulate, if the storm does last
for a longer period of time, then we actually
use the term snow. So snow usually means that
you have some accumulation on the ground, that
the storm lasts for a longer period of time.
You can actually put your kids outside, your
kids can play in it, they can have fun. That's
when you're going to say that it's actually snowing
outside. i can say personally for me i have only
been in snow like this that actually accumulates
on the ground twice in my entire life. I have
seen snow flurries before where I live. Maybe
for a few minutes, it'll snow and then it disappears.
It melts instantly. But a few years ago, it actually
did snow. It snowed for a few hours. We had some
accumulation on the ground. That was really exciting.
I called it magical because it was one of my
first experiences actually having snow accumulate,
seeing snow fall and being able to play with
some snow, make some snowballs. The individual
pieces of snow, the little tiny pieces that fall
gently to the ground, are called snowflakes.
So snowflakes are the frozen water droplets.
They usually have that really unique and beautiful
pattern. That term snowflake you will also hear
unfortunately online. I've seen it on social
media. Sometimes people use it to insult someone.
If you think of a snowflake, if it lands in the
palm of your hand, if you catch a snowflake,
it melts relatively quickly. because your skin
is so warm and the snowflake is so gentle, so
delicate, so easily broken. And that term recently
has come along, especially online. Not a very
nice term, but if you hear it, that's what that
means. If a lot of snow is falling, if it is
falling for a very long period of time, multiple
hours, maybe even days, that is called a snowstorm.
So a snowstorm is when you have a lot of accumulation.
maybe even a meter or a couple of meters of snow
accumulate on the ground. The snow lasts for
a very, very long time. This doesn't always have
to come with high winds. Usually snow storm just
means that the snow is falling for a long period
of time. If you have that snow and high winds
together, that gets called a blizzard. A blizzard
is a very intense snow storm. You're having a
lot of accumulation of snow. You also have high
winds, and very cold temperatures. Because of
the high winds, you'll hear this term poor visibility.
That means that it is difficult to see. Visibility
means the ability to be able to see. If you have
poor visibility, you usually can't see very far
because of all of the snowflakes in the air,
especially because of that high wind really pushing
the snow in every direction. That gets called
poor visibility. You'll also hear that called
whiteout. Whiteout is a product that you can
use if you are someone like me who went to school
before computers were really used. You might
have had some in your backpack when you went
to school. But we also use that term when you
can't see anything when it is snowing. A whiteout
in that term means that the snow is so thick
and the visibility is so poor that you can't
see anything. A lot of times, especially in the
United States, you'll hear people say that they
can't see a few feet from their face or they
can't see their hand if they put their hand out
in front of their face. That is what they're
referring to, that poor visibility and that whiteout
conditions. If it's very cold for a long period
of time, you might also hear the term cold snap.
A cold snap is when you have multiple days of
very cold temperatures below zero degrees Celsius.
I have never experienced a cold snap, but if
you are in places in the United States where
winters are very cold, you might hear this term
or you might hear someone use this term when
they're describing the weather. If someone says
that there is a cold snap or that the cold snap
is going to last for the next couple of days,
what that means is that there's going to be multiple
days of below zero degrees Celsius temperatures.
And then of course, once the cold is over, you
will hear the term warming up. When the temperature
starts to increase, when that winter weather
starts going away, you will hear that the temperature
is warming up. The opposite, when the temperature
goes down, it is cooling down. So warming up.
Cooling down, those are terms that you will hear,
especially at the beginning or the end of that
winter weather. If someone tells you that, oh,
next week it's going to warm up, that means the
temperature is going to increase next week. Or
if they tell you, man, this weather really is
cooling down, that means that it is getting colder.
Every single day is getting a little bit colder,
usually because that means you're in winter time.
I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope you learned
some of these vocabulary terms. Maybe some of
these were new for you. So a reminder to look
at the description of this podcast episode for
that vocabulary list. Take any of the terms that
are new to you, study them, and continue to build
your English vocabulary. If you enjoyed this
episode, if you want more vocabulary episodes
like this in the future, please leave a comment
and let me know. That way I can continue to plan
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