Environment

chilly, nippy

a bit cold (x2, less formal)

boiling, sweltering, roasting

very hot (x3, less formal)

blowy, breezy

windy (x2, less formal)

oppressing, sultry

too hot and there is no wind; humid (x2, formal)

What a downpour/deluge!

such a heavy rain! (x2, formal)

stifling, heavy, close

too hot and there is no wind; humid (x3, less formal)

It’s chucking it down!

such a heavy rain! (x1, less formal)

muggy, clammy, sticky

humid (x3, less formal)

secrecy

the state of being secret or of keeping something secret

to have a sunny disposition

to be cheerful and happy

something is less sunny

something is less optimistic

be met with a frosty reception

be met unfriendly

to be snowed under with work

to be overwhelmed with work

he was left under a cloud

he was left under suspicion, in trouble, or out of favor

to cloud smb’s jugement

to confuse smb

to be hit with a hail of bullets

to be attacked with a large number of bullets, stones etc.

a hazy memory

not remembering things clearly

in the mists of history

used to show that something happened a very long time ago and is difficult to remember clearly

a whirlwind romance

a couple gets together quickly without knowing each other well

thunderous applause

very loud applause

mean

average

arid

dry

elevation

height above sea level

precipitation

rain and snow

moderate

make less extreme

seasonality

differing weather conditions at different times of the year

rainfall

the amount of rain that falls in a month/year/etc.

prone to drought

tending to have a long period without rain

vegetation

plant life

coniferous

evergreen, e.g. pine

deciduous woods

woods that loose their leaves in winter, e.g. birch

prairies

flat grasslands in Canada & n. USA (like steppes in Asia)

paddy fields

fields planted with rice growing in water

to tend sheep

to take care of sheep

at the forefront of technology

in an important position to technology

descendants

relatives from later

ancestors

relatives from earlier

indigenous tribes

аборигены

dense forest

a forest thick with trees or having trees growing very closely together