50+ Easy Japanese Weather Words & Phrases for Hot, Cold & More

Want to talk about the weather in Japanese? Good!

First, if you want to know how to say weather in Japanese… it’s “tenki.”

Japanese people love talking about the tenki! It’s a popular topic because of how varied the weather is in Japan. Humid summers! Typhoons! Rainy season! Cold, dry winters! So, you’ll need these Japanese weather words and phrases.

Let’s jump in.

japanese weather words

Want to learn how to write in Japanese? Download your FREE Japanese Alphabet eBook here (click here).

Part 1. Basic Japanese Weather Words

First, you need to know the basics. Like, how to say weather in Japanese. Well, technically, you already know that because I gave away the answer up top.

Let’s start with the basic words, adjectives and phrases.

#EnglishJapaneseRomaji
1weather天気tenki
2weather report天気予報tenki yohō
3temperature温度ondo
4Celsius摂氏sesshi
5Fahrenheit華氏kashi
6The weather is…天気が…. です。tenki ga… desu.
7It is…/It will be….….です。…desu.
8Today is…今日….です。
Kyou wa… desu.
9Hot暑いatsui
10Goodいいii
11Bad悪いwarui
12Cold寒いsamui
13Chilly涼しいsuzushii
14Warm暖かいatatakai
15Dark暗いkurai
16Bright/Light明るいakarui

Based on this table above, if you use the pattern “天気が…. です”  (tenki ga… desu / the weather is… ) and an adjectives, like good (良い – ii) or bad (悪い – warui), you can start talking about basic weather.

So, good weather in Japanese is: “天気がいいです”  (tenki ga ii desu / the weather is good.)

Bad weather in Japanese is: “天気が悪いです”  (tenki ga warui desu / the weather is bad.)

By the way, in English, you wouldn’t say “The weather is hot”, right?

Sounds unnatural.

You’d just say “it’s cold” or “it’s hot.”

Same thing in Japanese. You shouldn’t say “tenki ga samui desu.

Instead, you can use “….です” (…desu/ it is/it will be) or “今日は…です” (kyou wa … desu/ today is…).

So, hot weather in Japanese would be: “暑いです” (atsui desu/ it’s hot). Or, you can say,今日は暑いです” (Kyou wa atsui desu / Today is hot.)

And to describe cold weather in Japanese, you’d say, “寒いです” (samui desu / it’s cold.)

Now, let’s talk about more specific weather.

Part 2. Specific Japanese Weather Words

What’s specific?

Well, “good” and “bad” are pretty general, right? So is “hot” and “cold.”

But, what if you wanted to talk about sunny weather in Japanese? Or, that it’s windy? Or cloudy? Or that a chunk of hale hit you square in the face, knocked out a tooth, and then you were mercilessly rained down upon? Well, that’s too much, but you get the point.

If you want to say that it’s windy in Japanese… or that it’s rainy in Japanese… check out the words below.

#EnglishJapaneseRomaji
17Humid蒸し暑いmushiatsui
18Sunny晴れhare
19Rainy雨降りamefuri
20Cloudy曇りkumori
21Cloudkumo
22Overcast雨曇りamagumori
23Windkaze
24Rainame
25downpourザーザー降りzaazaaburi
26drizzle小糠雨konukame
27Snowyuki
28Hailhyou
29Thunderstorm雷雨raiu
30Thunder/Lightningkaminari
31Typhoon台風taifuu
32Rainbowniji
33It’s raining.雨が降っています。
ame ga futteimasu
34It’s snowing.雪が降っています。
yuki ga futteimasu
35It is windy. (lit: It is strong wind.)風が強いです。
kaze ga tsuyoi desu.
36It is windy (2)風があります。
kaze ga arimasu.
37It’s sunny.晴れです。hare desu.
38It’s cloudy.曇りです。komuri desu.
39There’s lightning雷があります
kaman ga arimasu.
40There’s a thunderstorm.雷雨があります。raiu ga arimasu.

If you take a look at some of those last phrases, you’ll see how useful “desu” is. You can use it to say…

  • 晴れです。
    • hare desu – it’s sunny.
  • 雨です。
    • ame desu – there’s rain.

But, if you want to talk about the action like “it’s raining” or “its snowing,” you need to say:

  • 雨が降っています。
    • ame ga futteimasu – it’s raining.
  • 雪が降っています。
    • yuki ga futteimasu – it’s snowing.

The verb “降る” means “to fall” but only in the weather sense. As in, when rain or snow are coming down.

Part 3. Japanese Weather Phrases & Questions

Aside from knowing the words, here are some fun phrases and questions to know.

41. 天気はどうですか。

  • Tenki wa dou desuka?
  • How is the weather?

“Dou” means “how” and “tenki” you already know, right? Right?! Then, the “ka” is a question marking particle that you add to end of a sentence — it’s how to ask questions in Japanese.

japanese weather words

42.  明日の天気はどうですか。

  • Ashita no tenki wa dou desu ka?
  • How will tomorrow’s weather be?

“Ashita” means “tomorrow.” By the way, as you already know, “kyou” is “today.” So, you can switch the words and use “Kyou” if you wanted to specifically ask about today’s weather.

43.  いい天気ですね。

  • Ii tenki desu ne
  • It’s good weather, isn’t it?

The “ne” is another Japanese particle that can be translated as “right,” or “isn’t it?” You usually seek agreement or a response from the other person when you say that.

This is one of the most common Japanese small talk phrases.

japanese small talk phrases

44. 天気が急に変わった。

  • Tenki ga kyuu ni kawatta.
  • The weather changed suddenly.

“Kyuu ni” means suddenly. This is a very common adverb and is on my Japanese adverbs list. “Kawatta” is the past tense of the verb, “kawaru,” meaning to “change.”

japanese weather words

45. 天気が回復した。

  • Tenki ga kaifuku shita.
  • The weather improved.

good weather in japanese

“Kaifuku” means “improvement” and a good word to know overall. That is, if you want your Japanese to “kaifuku.” If you add the verb “suru,” meaning “to do,” it becomes “kaifuku suru” or “to improve.”

46. 天気が悪くなった。

  • Tenki ga waruku natta.
  • The weather turned bad.

“Waruku” comes from “warui” that you learned up above. But when you combine it – or any i-adjective, with a verb like that, the final “i” becomes a “ku.” “Natta” is the past form of “naru” which is “to become” or “turn into.”

bad weather in japanese

47. この天気に嫌気が差しています。

  • Kono tenki ni iyakegasashitemasu.
  • I’m sick of this weather.

I just think this is a very relatable phrase. “Iyake ga sasu” is a verb that means “to get sick of” or “tired of.”

bad weather in japanese

48, 最近毎日雨ですね。

  • Saikin mainichi ame desu ne.
  • It’s been rainy every day lately.

“Saikin” means “recently” and “mainichi” means everyday. This would be a good phrase for the rainy season in Japan.

japanese small talk phrases

49. 寒くなってきましたね。

  • Samuku natte kimashita ne.
  • It’s getting colder, isn’t it?

During the transition into winter, you might want to comment about this change to your neighbors and colleagues. There is not too much heating in Japanese buildings, so everyone will be starting to feel the cold setting in.

japanese small talk phrases

50.  暑くなってきましたね。

  • Atsuku natte kimashita ne.
  • It’s getting hot, isn’t it?

Summers in Japan can get very hot. Many people will be dreading the summer heat and this could be a topic that everyone could relate to. You could share and talk about how you can cope with the summer.

japanese small talk phrases

Back to You!

Now you know some Japanese weather words, right?

If you want season related words, check out…

With your newfound knowledge, go ahead and leave me a comment.

Tell me what the weather is like where you are now. Do it in Japanese.

– The Main Lingua Junkie

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