Welcome to Raincouver!

This time of year is pretty rainy in Vancouver.

You need to learn the language of RAIN!

Let’s start with simple vocabulary for how hard it is raining. Let’s go from just a few drops to very heavy rain:

A few raindrops
Sprinkling – just a little, not enough to worry about
A fine mist – very very tiny drops, almost like steam
Drizzle – steady but very small drops, you don’t really need a hat or umbrella
Light showers – periodic light rain, just enough to need a hat or umbrella, but it may stop and start many times
Showers – regular rain but in intervals, stops and starts
Pouring rain! – you need an umbrella, probably all day, the streets will be full of puddles
Bucketing!, Raining buckets! – raining so hard you could fill a bucket in a few minutes
Raining cats and dogs! – completely horrible full hard rain
A deluge, torrential rain! – Very very hard rain. Don’t go out, wait!
We can do the same with snow:

A few snowflakes
Starting to snow, but is not sticking (the snowflakes melt on contact)
A light snowfall, a dusting of snow
Flurries – light snow that stops and starts
It’s snowing! After, there this snowfall, there will be a blanket of snow everywhere
It’s really snowing hard!
It’s a BLIZZARD! It’s snowing so hard, it’s a WHITEOUT! Very unsafe to walk or drive
Snow SQUALL – this is even stronger than a blizzard with very strong wind, impossible to walk in
Rain and snow mixed together = SLEET

When snow melts, it becomes SLUSH

Of course, when rain freezes, it becomes ICE

Find out more about learning English at St Giles Vancouver.