Weather and natural phenomena (plural)

phenomenon (singular)
In your country, how many seasons are there?
+ a tropical country
+ rainy season (floods) = monsoon
+ dry season favourable weather

What is your favourite weather?

temperate weather/ climate
neither hot nor cold
outdoor & indoor activities

TASK 1
collocations
All the words in each of the groups 1-8 below can be used with one of nouns in the box to form strong collo-

cations. Write the noun which can be used in the appropriate space.

sunshine showers sky hot storm clouds rain winds

1. overcast = cloudy 5. warm

clear sky
………........... brilliant sunshine
………...........
stormy glorious

2. violent 6. scorching
severe storm
………........... swelteringly hot
………...........
electric tropical depression boiling

3. intermittent 7. thick
persistent rain
………........... fluffy clouds
………...........
torrential = heavy rain angry-looking

4. strong 8. light
gale-force winds
………........... scattered showers
………...........
light gale-force winds = cause damages snow

TASK 2

Complete each gap with a two-word adjective noun collocation from exercise.

1. clear sky
There's a lovely _________________ tonight so we might see a shooting star.

2. gale-force winds
Our garden wall was blown down during the night by _________________

3. snow showers
Heavy _________________ will fall on high ground tonight, so skiers can look forward to a good day on the
slope tomorrow.

angry-looking cloudsoverhead. Look at them.

4. It's going to rain -- there are some very _________________
Torrential rain floods
5. _________________ has caused serious flooding throughout the region.

glorious sunshine with not a wave in sight. drought /draʊt/

6. We sailed on a beautiful _________________
 TASK 3 TASK 4

Complete the table with the words below. Choose the correct alternative.

gale breeze warm boiling 1. It's pouring out there! I'm totally drenched/
drizzle moist pour cool moist and the streets are flooding!
freezing drenched
2. Last night a gale/breeze blew a tree down dur-
ing the storm.
Light Medium Extreme
3. I'm really enjoying the warm/hot spring tem-
breeze wind gale peratures.
moist wet soaking wet 4. It's been a pleasant, freezing/cool autumn.
warm hot boiling
5. It's warm/boiling here. It's almost 40°C! Celcius degrees
cool cold freezing
6. It's been drizzling/pouring, so the ground is a
drizzle rain pour little moist.

It's pouring down. 7. Could you open the window to let in the wind/
breeze?
TASK 5

Answer the questions below.

6. Do you prefer sunny days to rainy days?
1. What is the typical weather in your country like?
7. How do you feel when the weather is cloudy?
2. Are there any bad points about the weather in put you in a bad or good mood?
your city? 8. Have there been any changes in the weather over
the past few years? rainfall
3. What kind of weather do you like? temperatures:
9. Have you ever been to any place where the
4. What sort of weather do you least like? weather is different to your hometown?

5. What kinds of weather can put you in a good/ 10. Do you usually pay attention to the weather
bad mood? forecast?

TASK 6

Match questions and comments (1-7) with a response (a-g).

1. Do you think we should buy a new car? a. It just shows that every cloud has a silver lin-

2. How do you transfer photographs from this cam- ing.

era to a computer? b. Well, he left his old job under a cloud, maybe

3. Is your grandmother feeling any better? that's why.

4. Why hasn't Dan found another job? c. And they say lightning never strikes in the
5. What were you and Melinda arguing about last same place twice.
night? d. No, I don't. We should save some money for a

6. She made some lifelong friends while she was rainy day.
recovering from her car accident. e. Not really, she still feels under the weather.

7. Thieves broke into her apartment again last f. Don't ask me. I haven't the foggiest idea!

weekend. g. Nothing important, it was just a storm in a tea-

TASK 6

Match the words in box A with the words in box B to form some compound nouns about extreme weather

events. heatwave volcanic eruption

heat volcanic hail rain snow bush eruption fires wave fall stones storm

TASK 7 TASK 8

Complete the descriptions with Tornadoes, Hurri- Read the descriptions and match the expressions

canes or Earthquakes. in bold to their meaning.

a. to travel a particular distance

_________________ typhoons or cyclones are the b. a large amount of damage
most violent storms on Earth. They 1
form over
c. how fast the wind blows
warm ocean waters near the equator. By the time
they 2 strike land, the wind can 3 reach speeds of d. small quakes that often follow a much bigger one
up to 155 mph and 4
cover huge areas and dis- e. to increase to a particular speed or level
tances. They often bring heavy rain and generate f. to hit something hard
high waves, resulting in coastal flooding.
g. to move rapidly from side to side or up and down

h. the strength of an earthquake

_________________ occur on a much smaller 5
i. essential things needed to survive
scale, but can have higher 6
wind speeds - with
j. size
some gales blowing at over 300 mph. They can also
cause 7 considerable destruction. k. to stop the supply of something

l. to start to develop

_________________, like volcanoes, occur where

the Earth's tectonic plates meet. The movement of
the plates causes the ground to 8
shake. If the 9

magnitude is strong enough, it will collapse build-

ings and 10
cut off water, electricity and other 11

vital supplies. People are also at risk of tsunamis

if they live near the coast, or are hit unexpectedly
by further 12 aftershocks.