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El clima- Weather vocabulary in Spanish

Knowing the weather vocabulary is fine and everything, but what good is vocabulary if you don't know how to use it?

Many of the verbs concerning weather conditions are special, meaning they're only used with a tacit subject, in the third person (singular). For example, "Hace calor" (It's hot), "Hace buen tiempo" (The weather is nice), "Está lloviendo fuerte" (It's raining hard). 

Some other verbs describe actions performed by natural elements, such as falling (for the rain, snow, etc.), hitting (thunder), blowing (wind or breeze), etc. 

Some examples:
La lluvia cae con fuerza. 
--> (Literally) The rain falls with force

La nieve cubrió la ciudad.
--> The snow covered the city.

Cayó un rayo en un poste. 
--> A thunderbolt hit (lit. fell on) a lamp post.
(Notice the subject is not tacit, but there is a change in the order of the subject and verb)

Although it is common to hear people saying "Hay 35°" (there are 35°), the correct way to talk about the temperature is using the verb "estar": Estamos a 35°.   We don't usually specify we're talking about Celsius in every day language, unless the clarification is necessary.  

- ¿A qué temperatura estamos?
- A 25 grados.

- What's the temperature right now? (Lit. At what temperature are we?)
- At 25 degrees.

- ¿A cuánto estamos de temperatura?
- Estamos a 25 grados.

- What's the temperature right now? (Lit. How much are we in temperature?)
- We are at 25 degrees.

- En las noticias pronosticaron que hoy llegaremos a los 42 grados centígrados.
- Me lleva*, qué calor va a hacer.

- In the news the forecast was (lit. they forecast, in the past) that today we will reach 42 degrees Celsuis.
- Man, it's going to be hot.

Note: "Me lleva" is a common colloquial expression (in Mexico) of annoyance. It may be followed by something else, that may or may not be offensive, and that will most likely not make any sense: "Me lleva el tren", "Me lleva la trampa", "Me lleva la #$%&".
#$%& = chingada, in most cases (highlight to read)

Finally, three strictly weather-related verbs and their conjugation in some simple tenses:

	Llover	Lloviznar	Nevar
Presente	llueve	llovizna	nieva
Pretérito	llovió	lloviznó	nevó
Copretérito	llovía	lloviznaba	nevaba
Gerundio	lloviendo	lloviznando	nevando
Participio	llovido	lloviznado	nevado

Remember:  These verbs can only be conjugated in the 3rd person with a tacit subject.