Weather words for Alias — rain, snow, seasons

Puddle, rainbow, icicle and the forecast. The words every chat in the lift begins with.

A set about what is outside the window: rain and snow, wind and heat, the four seasons, the sky by day and by night, the forecast and the climate. From the puddle to the cyclone. No city names or records — only what everyone has felt on their own skin.

Who this set is for

Anyone who has ever got soaked without an umbrella knows the first level. Then come weathervane, sleet and squall — words for people who check the forecast more than once a morning. The third level — solstice, condensation, isobar — is for those who remember their geography or love the mountains.

Who this set is for

Any group, from children to grandparents: everyone can talk about the weather. The easy level plays well with little ones, the medium one suits a mixed table, and the hard one needs somebody who hikes, fishes or has not forgotten school geography. It lands best on a rainy evening when nobody is going anywhere anyway.

Rainbow

Works: “the coloured arch in the sky when it is still raining but the sun is already out.” A picture everyone has seen. Does not work: “an optical phenomenon in the atmosphere” — the room says aurora, mirage, lightning and loses half a minute.

Icicle

Works: “the frozen carrot hanging from the roof that drips down your collar in spring.” Does not work: “frozen water” — ice, snow, frost and half the set fit that. Explain winter words through the place where you see them.

Weathervane

Works: “the iron rooster on the roof that turns with the wind.” One object and the word is there. Does not work: “a device that shows the direction of the wind” — correct, but the room goes through compass, barometer and thermometer first.

Where groups go wrong

The first trap is explaining weather through weather: “like rain, only finer” opens a chain of drizzle, showers and hail, and the room guesses at random. Come in through the situation: what you do when it is outside the window. The second is seasons and months by their order: “the third month of spring” sends everyone counting on their fingers. Use an event instead: a holiday, the school break, the first snow. The third is geography terms explained as in class. The room is on a sofa, not at a desk: say what it means for a walk.

Come in through the situation: "what you scrape off the car windscreen on a cold morning" is frost.
Explain seasons and months through events, not order: a holiday, the school break, the first snow.
Tie hard terms to something you saw: "the longest day of the year, still light at ten" is the solstice.

Easy

Familiar words that land on the first clue. For warming up, for kids and for mixed groups.

weather, sun, rain, snow, wind, cloud, sky, fog, storm, thunder, lightning, rainbow, frost, heat, cold, puddle, umbrella, raincoat, raindrop, snowflake, icicle, ice, snowman, sledge, snowball, skis, skates, winter, spring, summer, autumn, morning, evening, night, sunrise, sunset, star, moon, shadow, sunshine, suntan, beach, leaves, mud, hail, shower, drizzle, thermometer, degree, forecast, air, breeze, hurricane, tornado, flood, mist, dew, dusk, noon, January, July, October, March, holiday, wet, dry, slippery, chilly, warm, hot, freezing, melt, drip, blow, wellies, sunglasses, sunscreen, kite, ice-cream, snowfall, thaw, snowdrop, swallow, fan, heater, horizon, light, darkness, blue, season, month, grey, soaked, shiver, sweat, picnic, pumpkin, mittens, sunflower, gale

Medium

Takes a few sentences and some imagination. The default setting for an ordinary evening.

climate, temperature, humidity, pressure, barometer, weathervane, cyclone, anticyclone, atmosphere, rainfall, overcast, heatwave, frostbite, sleet, slush, blizzard, squall, gust, typhoon, monsoon, tsunami, avalanche, mudslide, smog, dust, tropics, equator, pole, tundra, desert, minus, zero, ozone, ultraviolet, meteorologist, radar, satellite, front, haze, mirage, aurora, glacier, iceberg, greenhouse, sunburn, sunstroke, mackintosh, hibernation, migration, harvest, downpour, cloudburst, whirlwind, snowdrift, snowplough, gritter, gutter, windmill, windsock, crescent, eclipse, twilight, daybreak, dawn, sunbeam, muggy, stuffy, nippy, scorching, weatherman, Celsius, radiator, thermostat, air-conditioning, draught, flurry, midsummer, blossom, conkers, bonfire, sandbag, dam, wildfire, drought, omen, drenched, twinkle, nightfall, damp, chilblains, polar, sundial, galoshes, earmuffs, parasol, barbecue, cuckoo, acorn, Arctic, permafrost

Hard

Rare or abstract words. More failed rounds, and more laughing at them.

solstice, equinox, isobar, isotherm, anemometer, hygrometer, convection, condensation, evaporation, sublimation, inversion, turbulence, doldrums, anomaly, radiation, stratosphere, troposphere, subtropics, continental, temperate, maritime, visibility, outlook, precipitation, hoarfrost, whiteout, tempest, zephyr, lull, deluge, torrent, waterspout, sweltering, balmy, parched, sultry, inclement, cumulus, cirrus, nimbus, refraction, spectrum, afterglow, zenith, waxing, waning, catastrophe, evacuation, levee, floodplain, irrigation, acclimatisation, microclimate, meteorology, climatologist, desertification, erosion, emissions, carbon, insulation, hypothermia, wind-chill, Fahrenheit, depression, trough, thermal, updraft, dehumidifier, windswept, almanac, folklore, harbinger, rime, drift, current, barometric, probability, average, record, landslide, icebound, windbreak, savanna, steppe, rainforest, taiga, evergreen, deciduous, vegetation, mesosphere, torrential, subzero, aridity, ionosphere, Beaufort, waterproof, snowline, treeline, sirocco, meltwater