Weather Terms ⋅ Plume

Showers: A brief and usually light fall of rain, hail, sleet, or snow. Often separated by blue sky.
Fine Spells / Cloudy Periods / Sunny Spells: All these phrases essentially mean the same thing; that the sun will be obscured by cloud at times during the day. The only difference is the emphasis placed in the 1st word of the phrase. Therefore, we usually use “cloudy periods” when there is expected to be more cloud than sun, and “fine spells” when there is expected to be more sun than cloud.
Drizzle: A very light rain – to rain gently and steadily in fine drops, sometimes misty rain, lots of small droplets.
Isolated: Occasional or rare.
Scattered: Occurring or distributed over widely spaced and irregular intervals in time.
Patchy: Irregular in quality, occurrence, intensity.
Widespread: Spread or scattered over a considerable extent, extending over a wide area.
Squally: A brief sudden violent windstorm, often accompanied by rain or snow.
Gale: 60-89 km/h wind.
Severe Gale: > 89 km/h wind.
Snow flurries: A light snow shower where the snow does not stay / accumulate on the ground.
Thundery Falls: Rain with embedded thunderstorms.

Weather Terms