To become fluent in a language, you have to be quite familiar with its expressions and idioms. Native English speakers often speak in idioms, so teaching your students some common idioms will help greatly with their English comprehension and communication. 

Here are 12 weather idioms you should teach your English students! 

1) Feeling under the weather. 

What it means: Feeling unwell or in low spirits. 

Example: I think I’m going to skip the party tonight, I’m feeling a bit under the weather. 

2) Raining cats and dogs. 

What it means: Raining very hard, pouring rain. 

Example: Let’s postpone our picnic to next weekend because it’s raining cats and dogs. 

3) On cloud nine. 

What it means: A feeling of elation, perfect happiness. 

Example: He’s been on cloud nine ever since she agreed to go on a date with him. 

4) Rain or shine. 

What it means: Whether it rains or not. 

Example: She rides her bike for 10km every morning, rain or shine. 

5) Calm before the storm. 

What it means: A period of quietness before something exciting or stressful is about to happen.

Example: I like to prepare everything before the guests arrive so I can relax in the calm before the storm. 

6) Lightning fast. 

What it means: Extremely fast. 

Example: NASA’s new rocket is lightning fast! 

7) Take a rain check. 

What it means: Not being able to accept an invitation for the time being. 

Example: They invited me to the football game but I had to take a rain check because of work. 

8) Steal (someone’s) thunder. 

What it means: Taking the attention, appreciation or praise away from someone. 

Example: She completely stole my thunder when she shared my idea with our boss first! 

9) Save for a rainy day.

What it means: To save money in case of an emergency in the future. 

Example: His car tire just blew out. Luckily he had saved some money for a rainy day! 

10) Is a breeze. 

What it means: Something that is very easy. 

Example: You won’t have any problems passing that exam, it’s a breeze. 

11) Storm out. 

What it means: To leave a place angrily. 

Example: He stormed out of the house when his mom didn’t allow him to go to the concert. 

12) Break the ice.

What it means: To relieve the tension and get people more comfortable and relaxed.   

Example: I tried to break the ice by asking about her hobbies. 

What other weather idioms do you know in English? Share them in the comments below! Stay tuned for future articles about other English idioms you can teach your students!