From the scorching summer days spent sipping piwo (beer) in the park, to the leg deep, powder snow of Poland’s winter ski resorts, the eerie thick mists that smothers Kraków’s spires in autumn, the Baltic winds that crash against its coast, and the crashing rain that sporadically punctuates the colder months, when it comes to weather (pogoda) Poland has something of a mixed bag.
The word most meteorologists will use to sum Poland up is, ‘unpredictability’. With potentially scorching summers, and equally as superlative winters, there’s little room for guessing what’s going to happen year on year in Poland. But, while in my experience the boundaries between Winter (zima – think of the adjective zimny, meaning ‘cold’) and Spring (wiosna) can be blurred (with snow possible right into late April), Summer (lato) is usually extremely pleasant, can start early, and last late into the Autumn (jesień) months.
And here is some useful weather vocabulary:
blizzard – zawieja
to blow – wiać
climate – klimat
cloud – chmura
cloudless – bezchmurny
drizzle – mżawka
dry – suchy
fog – mgła
foggy – mglisty
frost – mróz
frosty – mroźny
glazed frost – gołoledź
gust of wind – poryw wiatru
gusty – porywisty
hail – grad
heat – gorąco
heat wave – fala upałów
heavy rain – ulewa
hot – gorący
ice – lód
icy – lodowy; lodowaty
it’s raining cats and dogs – leje jak z cebra
low – niż
meteorologist – meteorolog
rain – deszcz
rainbow – tęcza
sandstorm – burza piaskowa
shade – cień
sky – niebo
snow – śnieg
snow drift – zaspa
snow storm – śnieżyca
snowy – śnieżny
sticky – parny
storm – burza
sultriness – duchota
sun – słońce
sunny – słoneczny
temperature – temperatura
thaw – odwilż
thermometer – termometr
thunderbolt – piorun
thunderstorm – burza z piorunami
to measure – mierzyć
umbrella – parasol
warm – ciepło
weather – pogoda
weather forecast – prognoza pogody
wet – mokry
wind – wiatr
What’s today’s weather? – Jaka jest (dziś) pogoda?
Is the sun shining? – Czy słońce świeci?
The storm is coming – Burza się zbliża/Idzie burza
