Talking about the weather in Spanish
English speakers rely heavily on the word "it" when talking about the weather. We say that "it is raining" or "it is hot". That "it" is a placeholder subject. It does not refer to a real thing, but English grammar demands a subject anyway.
Spanish does not need placeholder subjects. When you talk about the weather in Spanish, you never try to invent a subject or translate the word "it". Instead, Spanish uses specialized verbs or combines a few common verbs with weather nouns and adjectives. Because English speakers are used to saying "it is", a very common mistake is to say es sol instead of using the correct Spanish verbs.
When describing the general temperature or feel of the weather, Spanish frequently uses the verb hacer (to do or to make) followed by a noun. Where English says "it is sunny", Spanish literally says "it makes sun" using the noun sol. The same pattern applies to viento (wind) and the word tiempo (weather) itself.
This is also how Spanish expresses temperature. You will use the phrases hacer calor (to be hot) and hacer frío (to be cold).
Many weather events are expressed as single verbs rather than combinations. You conjugate these verbs in the third-person singular (the "he or she" form), but there is no subject.
The most common verbs are llover (to rain) and nevar (to snow). You can also use more descriptive verbs like chispear (to drizzle) or tronar (to thunder). When a storm passes, you can use the verb despejarse (to clear up).
Not all weather uses hacer. If you are describing a temporary visual condition with an adjective, you will use estar. This applies to adjectives like nublado (cloudy), despejado (clear), and soleado (sunny).
Finally, if you are talking about the physical presence of a weather phenomenon, Spanish uses hay (there is or there are). You will hear this most often with nouns like niebla (fog).
The golden rule for weather in Spanish is to leave out the word "it". Remember that Spanish uses hacer for general temperature, sun, or wind. It uses estar for conditions described by adjectives, hay for fog, and dedicated verbs without a subject for rain and snow.