Write About the Weather

 We all talk about the weather. It affects a great many things in our lives. Brides live in fear of a rainy day when they are going to be married. Graduates hope for a sunny, not too windy day for outdoor graduations. Parents traveling two hours to an airport to pick up married children dread having to travel on snow-packed or icy roads. Campers want warm, dry weather. There are so very many ways weather plays a part in our lives. 

It's a perfect topic for writers to pursue. Think of the sensory details a writer might use--the sound of rain on a tin roof, seeing and hearing lightning and thunder, touching the cold snow, the way grass tickles your bare feet, the smell of coffee, the odor of a skunk who has released his nastiness nearby, petting a cat, and so many more, 

Sensory details bring a reader into a scene, and the ones used when writing about weather can be especially interesting. 

Writing about weather offers the writer an opportunity to practice descriptive phrases. As an exercise today, write descriptive phrases for the following weather topics: 

A. Blizzard

B.  Thunderstorm

C.  Blistering hot day

D.  Flood

E.  Ice storm

Writing about weather allows the writer to dive into the sea of adjectives to write memorable descriptions. Remember to use one or two at the most. More adjectives than that makes for overkill and detracts from what you're describing. 

What type of writing can you do with weather as your topic? A fiction story. A personal essay describing a weather event you experienced. An article explaining some weather event. A children's story that revolves around weather. A poem. 

You can see that weather plays a part in our writing and offers us many opportunities. 

Use Weather in Your Writing

 

Here in north central Kansas, we have a winter weather warning. A snow storm is smashing its way across the plains and farther. The snow is to begin late this afternoon or evening, continue overnight and into late morning tomorrow. Amount? How about a prediction of 3-8 inches? That is the prediction offered by our local radio station. There is a lot of difference between those two numbers. We can manage three inches, but eight will bring things to a standstill with lots of closings. We've had very few snowstorms this winter, and what we did get have been very small amounts. 

Today's photo is a happy reminder that spring is just around the corner. Well, almost. Thoughts of spring often help us through the cold, sometimes dreary, occasionally snowy winter. With spring, we'll have a few thunderstorms or soft rain that brings us green grass and the earliest flowers of the year.

Weather can play a factor in our writing. A story about a storm at sea can almost count the storm as another character. Think about the stories you've read that deal with blizzrds, tornados, hurricanes, torrential downpours and flooding. Weather offers a writer a lot to work with. 

When writing about weather, we can have a lot of fun using very descriptive words. Instead of saying 'It was windy' we could write 'The wind roared.' Why write 'It snowed a lot.' when you could write 'The snow fell softly all night and left fluffy piles on the deck and lawn furniture, 

For an exercise today, choose one or more from the list below and write a descriptive paragraph.

A. a hurricane on an island

B. a tornado in Oklahoma

C. a summer thunderstorm

D. a blizzard in the Rocky Mountains

E. a dust storm in western Kansas

F. a clear, sunny summer day

G. a river flooding the surrounding area

H. a day with high winds

I. sleet

J. a hailstorm

Or pick any other weather-related topic. 

For a second exercise, select one from the list above and write a paragraph that involves a person, or people, experiencing that kind of weather. 

Adding weather to your stories and poems can bring life to your writing. 

I'll finish today with a haiku that won first place in a contest. The sound of thunder as I woke up one spring morning prompted me to write it in my head, then put it in print as soon as I got up. 

rolling thunder hums

within dark, ominous clouds

melody of spring

(c)

A Snowy Day--Perfect For A Writing Exercise and Other Stuff

We're having a snowy day here in mid-central Kansas with a prediction of ten inches by tonight. The snow started silently around 4 a.m. today while most of us were sleeping. We're not alone. The numerous snow and ice storms of this 2013-14 winter have spread over a vast area of the USA. It appears for some areas that no sooner do the people dig out and start normal life again that another storm blows its way across the mountains and plains up to the Great Lakes and on to the east coast. Spring seems light years away.

Snowstorms have the power to disrupt life as we know it. Schools close, businesses sometimes shut down, meetings are cancelled, travelers run into huge problems and grocery stores are a madhouse with shoppers stocking up prior to the big event. Depends on what part of the country you live in as to how panic-driven the shoppers are. 

I like to spend some time in the kitchen baking on snowy days like this. I've been wanting to try a couple new recipes and this is the perfect time. I have a story I've been working on so this afternoon would be an ideal time to continue. Of course, there are many books stacked up waiting for me to read. You may notice that housework is not among the things I've listed to do on a snowy day. Nope--gonna save that for a regular kind of day. 

Today is the perfect moment to use the pictures above to write a poem, a piece of fiction, or a creative nonfiction story that deals with a snowy day. What are some good adjectives to describe snow, or even a blizzard? Can you add tension to what you've written? Will you concentrate on sensory details? Can you convey either the beauty or the danger of a day like this? Can you go on a rant about the weather? Can you write a warm, fuzzy story? Did you ever experience a disaster during a snowstorm? There are so many different directions you can go. Study the pictures here, then search your memory bank before you begin to write.