Transcription
Hello and welcome to the weather report. I'm your weatherman, Maddie. Let's take a look at today's weather prediction.
It looks like we have a mixed bag of weather today. In the morning, we might expect some light showers and drizzle, so you might want to take your brolly with you, or you can just get soaked. It's up to you. There might also be some gusts of wind, so hold on to your hats, or your wig if you have one.
In the afternoon, the sun will come out, and it will be mild and humid. There will be a nice breeze to cool you down, or to make you sweat even more, depending on how you feel. However, watch out for some thunder and lightning in the evening, as the storm is approaching. It will pour down, and there might be some hail as well. If you go out, look out for the puddles. The storm will last until night, when it will clear up and become foggy. Tomorrow, we can expect a sunny day with no rain, or maybe not. Who knows?
What are all these words? What do they mean? Hello, my name is Maddie from POC English, and in this lesson, we're going to learn some advanced weather vocabulary. We all know what rain is, right? However, rain can have different forms. One form of rain is drizzle. Drizzle, when it rains very lightly. For example, "I don't need an umbrella today. It's only drizzling." It's only drizzling. I do not need an umbrella.
Another form of rain is when it starts raining heavily for a very short period of time and then stops. This happens a lot here in Milan. You're walking on the street, everything is normal, it's perfectly sunny, but all of a sudden, it starts raining very heavily for 15 seconds. This is called a shower. For example, "We had a shower this morning, but now it's sunny." Do not confuse this with a shower, taking a shower, washing yourself.
Now, when it's raining or drizzling, or when you have a shower in your town, what do you need? You need an umbrella, right? However, in British English, we have a very interesting informal word for umbrella, which is brolly. "Have you taken your brolly today? Don't forget your brolly if you're going out. It might rain."
Now, imagine you go outside and you forget to take your brolly with you. You're walking, and then suddenly it starts raining. What will happen to you? You will become all wet, or you'll be soaked. Soaked. To be soaked means to be completely wet. For example, "I got soaked in the rain. I need to change my clothes now."
Let me teach you another form of rain. This one is a phrasal verb: pour down. Now, what does pour mean? Imagine you have a glass full of water, then you tilt the glass, and then the water starts pouring down. And that's where this phrasal verb comes from. If it's pouring down, it means it's raining heavily, as if somebody's up there with a bucket and is pouring down the rain. "Oh, look, it's pouring down outside. We cannot go to the park. It's pouring down."
Now, pour down was a phrasal verb. We actually have a noun for it: downpour. What is a downpour? It's exactly the same thing, but instead of a phrasal verb, it's a noun. Downpour. Downpour means when it rains very heavily for a long period of time. For example, "We had a downpour yesterday. The streets are flooded." Flooded means full of water.
And here's a very fun and informal word: spit. You know what spit is? It's when you do this. You throw your saliva. It's not a good thing, is it? No. However, spit has another meaning too. It means when it rains lightly for a short period of time. That is called spit. It's as if somebody's up there is spitting on us. For example, "It's just spitting a bit, but it's not too bad. You don't need your brolly when it's spitting, do you? Get soaked? No. When it's spitting outside, do you need to take your brolly? No."
And now, let me give you a very interesting idiom for rain: the heavens open. You know what Heaven is, right? Some people believe that if you were a good person and you die, you will go to heaven. Now, here is the phrase: the heavens open. It means up there, the doors of Heaven are open, so water is coming down. The heavens open means to rain very much, to rain a lot. Now, to talk about the past tense, you can say the heavens opened. For example, "We were having a picnic when the heavens opened, and we got soaked. We were having a picnic. The heavens opened, and we got soaked."
Now, imagine the heavens opened yesterday, and now it's not raining. There is a clear sky and it's sunny. But if you go outside, you will see small pools of water on the street. What are they called? These pools of water are called puddles. One puddle, two puddles, three puddles. What happens if you step into a puddle? Your feet will get soaked. "The kids jumped in the puddles after the rain. The kids jumped in the puddles after the rain. They were playing around."
Okay, enough with the rain. Let's talk about the wind. We know what the wind is, right? But wind can also have different forms. The first word we're going to learn is gust. What's a gust? When the wind blows very strongly for a short period of time, out of a sudden. Everything is okay, but suddenly, and then it stops. That is a gust, or a gust of wind. For example, "Oh, look, a gust of wind knocked over the trash can."
Opposite of a gust of wind is breeze. What's a breeze? Breeze is very enjoyable. Breeze is when wind blows, but gently and slowly. It's like, and then you are enjoying it. It's all in your hair, and then you're just enjoying it. That is a breeze. "Let's open the windows. There is a nice breeze today."
Now, let's talk about the weather. Now, the weather can have different forms. However, I'm just going to talk about three which can be a bit challenging for students. Number one is mild. But what is mild weather? When the weather is not very cold or very hot, we can say it's mild. So, when the weather is mild, is it enjoyable? Yes. Is it pleasant? Yes, because it's mild. Is it too cold? No. Is it too hot? No. It's mild. It's mild today. I don't need to wear a jacket. It's mild today, and I don't need to wear a jacket.
Next, what do we call a type of weather in which there is just too much water in the air? It's humid. Humid, when the air is moist or damp, which means full of water, we call that humid. For example, "It's very humid today. I feel sweaty."
And next is when you cannot see the distance very clearly. Why? Because it's foggy. Foggy. What does it mean? When there is a thick mist in the air, that white thing like a cloud, it's in the air, and you cannot see very clearly. That's foggy. For example, "I'm not going to drive today because it's foggy and it's dangerous."
Alright, now let's talk about extreme weather conditions. Oh, but before we continue, have you downloaded my ultimate English booklet? Oh yes, you can do that for free. This book has more than 400 pages of the summary of all of my YouTube lessons. You can download this book for free from my website. Then you can watch the lessons because for each of the lesson summaries, you have the link of the video. You can watch the video, follow the lesson summary, and whenever you want, you can review the lessons. In this way, you make sure that you are actually learning. And good news is that for my YouTube subscribers, this book is free to download. Simply click on the link above my head, go to my website, enter your email address and your name, click download, and you will receive the link.
Alright, let's get back to the lesson and talk about extreme weather conditions. The first word we're going to learn is a tornado. Tornado. But what is a tornado? A tornado is a powerful windstorm that goes around. It's also called a cyclone. For example, "There was a tornado warning on TV yesterday, and we had to go to the basement."
Another type of extreme weather condition is a hurricane. Hurricane. But what is it? It's a very big storm with strong winds and rain that comes from the ocean. So, if your town is next to the ocean, you may have hurricanes. "There is a hurricane coming this weekend, so we have to be careful."
Now, another type of weather is when you have wind, but instead of rain, you have snow, and that is called a blizzard. Blizzard. When there is a lot of strong wind and snow, that's a blizzard. For example, "There was a blizzard last night. Schools are closed today." So, I think students are very happy.
Now, in many types of extreme weather conditions, you will hear a sound like "boom" and you will see a light in the sky. What is that called? Well, the light is called the lightning, and the sound is called the thunder. So, thunder and lightning. Many people are afraid of thunder and lightning. How about you? Are you afraid of it?
Now, we know what rain is, and we know what snow is. But sometimes ice comes down from the sky. It's in the shape of a little circle, little ball, and it can cause damage. But what is that called? It's called hail. Now, as a noun, hail means the little ice balls that fall from the sky. It can cause damage. Sometimes they are in the size of a tennis ball. As a verb, it means the falling of all those little ice balls. So, hail is a noun and a verb, just like snow, just like rain. "It hailed yesterday, and it damaged a lot of cars."
And that's it, guys. I hope you've enjoyed this lesson. Please don't forget to give it a thumbs up. Click subscribe if you're new to my channel, and leave a comment for me. See ya.
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