Idioms: Weather Expressions
Weather expressions idioms is the B1 figurative collection built on atmospheric metaphors. Under the weather (unwell), on cloud nine (very happy), raining cats and dogs (raining heavily), a storm in a teacup (overreaction to a small problem), save for a rainy day (save money for emergencies), steal someone’s thunder (take credit for someone’s idea), break the ice (start a conversation), as right as rain (perfectly fine). Learners build the weather-idiom range that English uses constantly.
This worksheet builds B1 fluency with weather idioms.
Worksheet preview
What’s inside:
- An idiom bank with 18 weather expressions
- Matching task: idiom to meaning
- Gap-fill in conversational contexts
- Production task: write a dialogue using three weather idioms
- Full Answer Key plus Teacher Notes
Common challenges: Weather-idiom transparency: raining cats and dogs is fully opaque; save for a rainy day is metaphor-transparent. Frequency: under the weather (high) vs steal someone’s thunder (medium). Register: weather idioms work in casual writing and speech.
For: Adult and teenage learners (14+) at CEFR B1, in intermediate classes, 1:1 lessons, or self-study. Maps onto Cambridge B1 Preliminary (PET) and B2 First (FCE) Reading-Use of English. Part of the Daily Life Idioms collection — the natural next step is Idioms: Colours.
