Types of Rain

After some very pleasant summer weather, the last week has been very rainy in Germany. Like English, German has many words and expressions to describe different types of rain. Let's take a look at some examples from Yabla German.

In Berlin, we most often only have vereinzelte Schauer (what we refer to in English as "scattered showers"), but in other parts of the country flooding can become a real problem:

Heutiger Hochwasserstand: wieder mindestens zehn Zentimeter.

Today's flood water level: at least ten centimeters again.

Caption 44, Die Klasse - Berlin '61
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Even when it isn't dangerous, rain can create a lot of complications:

Der Dauerregen drückte zwar nicht auf die Stimmung...

The constant rain didn't dampen the mood...

Caption 7, FC Bayern München - Triple-Feier im Dauerregen
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The Piggeldy and Frederick cartoon linked below has quite an exhaustive list of types of rain:

Es gibt Platzregen, Dauerregen, Sprühregen,

There are cloudbursts, [there is] constant rain, misty rain,

Nieselregen, Eisregen, Landregen, Gewitterregen,

drizzle, freezing rain, steady rain, thunder shower,

Sommerregen, Winterregen und Bindfadenregen."

summer rain, winter rain and string-like rain [pouring rain]."

Captions 10-12, Piggeldy und Frederick - Regen
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One other word to know is der Niederschlag ("precipitation") which is often used in weather reports:

Von Westen her kommen dann wieder Tiefausläufer,

Low-pressure areas are then coming from the west again,

die dann eben auch Niederschlag mit sich bringen können.

which can also then bring precipitation with them.

Captions 22-23, Rheinmain im Blick - Der Frühling ist da
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Further Learning
What kinds of rain are common where you live? Try to find the equivalent in German. For a challenge, watch this weather report for last week from der Spiegel.