How to Write a Song About Weather And Seasons

Weather and seasons are emotional cheat codes. They carry mood, memory, and metaphor in a single line. A storm can mean rage, drought can mean loneliness, the first spring rain can mean relief. Songs about weather and seasons give listeners a map to feel something familiar in a new way. This guide gives you the craft tools, phrases you can steal legally, and exercises that force a great line out of your brain whether it is tired or wired at three a.m.

This is for songwriters who want to turn climate into catharsis and seasons into hooks. Expect practical advice, templates you can use now, real life scenarios that make lines feel true, and prompts that produce words instantly. If your songwriting brain likes coffee and chaos in equal measure, you are in the right place.

Why weather and seasons work in songs

Weather and seasons are universal trackers. Everyone has felt rain on their skin, heat on their face, cold in their bones, spring in their chest, and the slow green to gold decay of autumn. Use that shared map to make your lyric land faster. Here are the main reasons they work.

• Instant atmosphere A single weather word sets temperature, color, and texture for a whole verse. Say rain and the world is wet, reflective, sometimes sad, sometimes cleansing.
• Emotional shorthand Seasons carry cultural meanings. Spring suggests rebirth. Summer suggests heat and risk. Fall suggests loss and slowing. Winter suggests quiet and survival.
• Concrete details Weather gives objects and actions to write about. Umbrellas, cracked sidewalks, frost on a windshield, sweat stains. These let you show instead of tell.
• Dynamic change Weather moves. You can use a shift from sun to storm to mirror a narrative change in the lyric.

Pick your angle before you write

Every weather song is doing one of three things. Name which one you want before you start writing.

• Literal storytelling The song narrates events that happen in a specific weather or season. Example scenario: a breakup that happens during a summer road trip.
• Emotional metaphor The weather stands for a feeling or relationship state. Example scenario: a relationship that slowly freezes over during winter.
• Image collage The song strings vivid weather images together to create a mood rather than a linear story. Example scenario: a late night track that moves through rain, fog, neon, cold coffee.

Be decisive. A lyric that tries to be all three at once will sound like it suffers from creative attention deficit. Pick one promise and keep every line orbiting that promise.

Season by season songwriting blueprint

Use these targeted guides for each season. They include tonal choices, concrete images, chord mood suggestions, and lyric micro prompts that you can drop into a verse or chorus.

Spring

Tone

• Renewal
• Awkward hope
• Green, wet, new growth

Concrete images

• Seed packets
• Patches of mud on shoes
• First open window of the year
• Seeds in the thin sunlight

Chord mood

• Major colors with light suspensions to suggest possibility

Lyric prompts

• Write one line where you touch a plant and remember someone.
• Write a chorus that compares a new thing to the first green sprout pushing through concrete.

Real life scenario

You are on a second date. It rains slightly while you both decide whether to get coffee or go home. You hold one umbrella. Use that tension and small, sweaty handshake to create a hook.

Summer

Tone

• Heat, lust, danger, carelessness

Concrete images

• Sunburn that peels like a secret
• Late night fireworks
• Sticky subway seats
• Skin that remembers touch

Chord mood

• Bright major progressions or a gritty minor groove with a forward pulse

Lyric prompts

• Write a chorus that uses sweat as a metaphor for lying or for wanting.
• Draft a verse about a highway at dusk that ends with a smell detail.

Real life scenario

You slept on a rooftop and woke to the smell of someone else cooking bacon. The memory of heat is now tangled with the memory of who you used to be. That is the chorus.

Autumn

Tone

• Loss, nostalgia, introspection

Concrete images

• Yellow leaves caught in gutters
• Cafes with sweaters on chairs
• School bus mirrors
• Hot drink burn on a thumb

Chord mood

• Minor progressions with occasional major lifts to suggest memory flash

Lyric prompts

• Write a verse that treats clothing as relationship evidence. The jacket left at your door is a document.
• Write a bridge where a leaf falling is a timeline moment.

Real life scenario

Your ex returns a sweater. You keep it anyway. The sweater smells like smoked wood. Use that small sensory betrayal as a line that breaks the chorus rhythmically.

Winter

Tone

• Stillness, survival, clarity, brutality

Concrete images

• Heat from a radiator
• Breath fogging in the streetlight
• Salt on boots
• Shouting across a frozen alley

Chord mood

• Sparse arrangements, open fifths, reverb on vocals

Lyric prompts

• Open with a line about your mouth freezing when you try to say sorry.
• Make the chorus about warmth that is not physical. It is a memory or a phone call.

Real life scenario

You miss a midnight train because you stood and watched your own breath for too long. That delay is the thing you want to write a song about. Make it small and honest. Listeners will nod and pass the song to a friend.

Weather motifs you can steal with permission from the universe

We will break down specific weather images and show how to use each one as a literal object, a metaphor, and a physical beat in the melody. Every image has three uses. Use them like Lego pieces and build something that feels new.

Rain

Literal use

People with wet hair, umbrellas, puddle splashes, bus shelter crowding.

Metaphor use

Cleaning, crying, relentless memory, small mercy. Rain can be both relief and punishment. Decide which your lyric needs.

Sonic use

Short percussive syllables to mimic drops. Use syncopation in the vocal to suggest irregular falling.

Lyric line seed

The first drop on my cheek is your apology arriving late.

Storm

Literal use

Flash floods, boarded windows, radio static, power out, the smell of ozone.

Metaphor use

Conflict, shame, a sudden change that does not leave a clean way back.

Sonic use

Build with rising note patterns and a vocal that climbs. Piano clusters work well for tension.

Lyric line seed

We were an incoming front line and no one carried an umbrella.

Sun

Literal use

Sunburn, halo hair, sidewalk chalk, long shadows at golden hour.

Metaphor use

Irradiation of ego, bright clarity, exposure that is both free and harsh.

Sonic use

Open vowels like ah and oh on the chorus to give sense of warmth and lift.

Lyric line seed

Your laugh calls the sun out of hiding and leaves me slightly out of season.

Snow

Literal use

Blankets on cars, quiet streets, muffled footsteps, the small violent joy of snowballs.

Metaphor use

Stasis, purity, burial, insulation, things frozen in amber.

Sonic use

Use long sustained notes and wide reverb to create a sense of space.

Lyric line seed

I leave footprints that someone else will read in January and call them history.

Wind

Literal use

Flags snapping, hair in eyes, doors that do not close, notes scattered into gutters.

Metaphor use

Change without consent, gossip, passing time, invisible force.

Sonic use

Use breathy vocal textures and a rhythmic groove that pushes forward like a gust.

Lyric line seed

Conversations will lift and scatter like receipts in a parking lot.

How to pick the right weather image for your hook

Your chorus needs one clear physical image that a listener can hold. When listeners close their eyes they should see the image, not the concept. Here is a simple test to pick the right image.

1. Write three candidate images. Example: wet collar, cracked pavement, the heater clicked off.
2. Say them out loud fast. The image that has the cleanest mouth shape wins. Clean mouth shapes are easier to sing and easier to remember.
3. Ask if the image can carry a twist. The best hook image can be literal and then reveal a relationship truth on line two.

Example pick

Wet collar. It is concrete. It suggests rain. Twist: You wore my jacket and did not notice the wet spot over your heart. There is your chorus line.

Topline melody strategies for weather songs

Your melody should reflect the movement of the weather. If the weather is gentle, your melody can be narrow and intimate. If the weather is violent, climb. Here are actionable rules.

• For drizzle or fog choose stepwise motion and small intervals. Think walking pace.
• For storm and wind use leaps and syncopation. Imagine trying to shout over wind.
• For sun and summer use open vowels and repeated motifs. Make the chorus easy to hum on a hot day.
• For snow use sustained notes and plenty of space in the arrangement. Silence is a texture.

Quick exercise

Put a metronome at a tempo that matches the weather. For rain try 80 beats per minute. For summer heat try 100 to 120 beats per minute. Hum a melody for two minutes without words. Mark the moments where your voice naturally wants to hold a note. Those are hooks.

Chord palettes that match weather and seasons

Chord choices set emotional base. Here are palettes to try. You do not need advanced theory to use these. I will explain any terms.

• Spring Major triads with added second or add nine for openness. An add nine chord is a major triad with the second degree of the scale added. It sounds like gentle sunrise.
• Summer Mix of major and minor with a rhythmic groove. Use dominant chords for tension and release. A dominant chord is the chord built on the fifth degree of the scale. It wants to resolve home.
• Autumn Minor keys with a surprise major IV for nostalgia. The IV chord is built on the fourth degree of the scale. When it is major in a minor key it adds a flash of memory.
• Winter Open fifths, suspended chords, and sparse voicings. Suspended chords replace the third with either the second or fourth for ambiguity.

Lyrics craft: show not state with weather

Do not write a line that reads the emotion. Instead, place a small, specific weather detail that implies it. Compare these examples.

Before

I feel lonely like winter.

After

The radiator hisses and the shadow of your coat hangs on the hook like a question.

How to create the after line

1. Pick a concrete object from the weather or season. In the example the object is a coat on a hook and a radiator.
2. Attach a small action to the object. The radiator hisses. The coat hangs like a question.
3. Place the emotional word somewhere implied rather than stated. The listener will do the work.

Prosody and weather words

Prosody is how words fit the music. If a weather word has a natural stress pattern that fights the beat you will feel friction. Always speak the line at normal speed before you sing it. Mark where the natural stresses fall. These stresses should land on strong beats or sustained notes.

Example problem

Weather phrase: the gentle rain

The natural stress is on gentle and rain. If your melody puts gentle on a weak beat and rain on a quick note the line will wobble. Either rewrite to gentle rain that falls or change the melody so gentle lands on the strong beat.

Rhyme and sound palette for weather songs

Rhyme choices should feel as natural as the weather. Use family rhymes and internal rhymes to keep things interesting. Family rhyme is when words share vowel or consonant families without a perfect match. It keeps the song from sounding like a nursery rhyme.

Example chain

rain, remain, grain, again, refrain.

Use internal rhyme to make a verse feel alive

Example

Tonight the neon rains on our window panes and names are loose like laundry.

Title crafting that sells your weather song

Your title is a promise. If the song is about literal weather make the title an image that repeats vocally. If it is metaphorical pick a phrase that can be sung with open vowels. Avoid long cryptic titles unless you have a killer bridge that explains it.

Good title examples

• Here Comes the Sun. That is a literal and emotional promise.
• Set Fire to the Rain. It is vivid and paradoxical.
• November Rain. Simple and directly atmospheric.

Story structures that work for weather songs

Weather songs can be short vignettes or long narrative arcs. Here are three forms that work and what each one proves for the listener.

Form A: Snapshot chorus

Verse 1 paints the scene. Chorus repeats the image and the emotional hinge. Verse 2 adds a small new object. Final chorus adds a line change for twist. This is great for songs that rely on a single image like a storm or a sunburn.

Form B: Journey through seasons

Use each verse for a different season. Chorus repeats the same hook that changes meaning as the seasons alter the context. This works for songs about time and memory.

Form C: Weather as character

Personify the weather. The wind is an ex who calls, snow is a judge, the sun is a liar. Let the bridge be a confrontation. This form is theatrical and good for storytelling singers.

Production notes for weather mood

Production can sell the weather. You do not need a big budget to get believable texture.

• Rain Use room ambience and soft pulses. Add a low volume loop of real rain field recording for authenticity. If you are not sure where to find recordings, search for free field recordings labeled rain. Use them at low level below the mix.
• Storm Use risers and low frequency rumbles. Sidechain your pad to the kick for a sense of breathing.
• Sun Bright guitars or synths with high shelf EQ. Keep midrange open and vocals forward.
• Snow Use sparse piano, long reverb tails, and widen the stereo image slightly to create space. Silence is part of the arrangement.

Terms explained

• BPM means beats per minute. It tells you how fast the song moves.
• DAW means digital audio workstation. It is the software you use to record and arrange your song. Examples are Ableton Live, Logic Pro, and Pro Tools.
• EQ stands for equalization. It is how you boost or cut frequencies. Use EQ to make your vocals sit above rain pads.

Micro exercises to spark a chorus in ten minutes

All three are timed. Set a timer and finish before it rings.

1. Weather image sprint. Pick a weather word. Write twelve lines that include that word as a noun. Trim to three strongest lines. Arrange them into a chorus shape. Two minutes for the idea and eight minutes for the chorus.
2. Season swap. Take a chorus about one season. Rewrite it twice, changing the season to another. Each rewrite should keep the same emotional promise but use different objects. Ten minutes total.
3. Prosody pass. Speak the chorus you just wrote. Mark natural stresses. Adjust the melody or line so stresses land on strong beats. Five minutes.

Before and after lyrical edits you can steal

Theme A breakup in the rain.

Before

I cried in the rain because we split up and I am sad.

After

A city bus hosed down the corner. My jeans remembered your name in salt and mud.

Theme Missing summer freedom.

Before

I miss those summer nights we used to have when we did nothing and it was fun.

After

We traded our routines for the smell of fireworks. The alley still smells like your laugh.

Common mistakes and how to fix them

• Too literal Fix by adding a twist. If the line only describes weather add a personal consequence.
• Too obvious metaphor Fix by choosing a small concrete detail instead of an abstract claim. Replace love is cold with radiator ticks empty in the morning.
• Forcing rhyme Fix by using family rhyme or internal rhyme. Do not end every line with rain.
• Clumsy prosody Fix by speaking your lines at conversation speed and aligning natural stresses with beats.

Action plan to finish a weather song in one day

1. Pick the season or weather motif. Decide literal, metaphor, or collage.
2. Write one promise line that states the emotional outcome in plain language. Keep it short.
3. Create an image list of six objects or actions related to that weather. Pick the best three.
4. Write a chorus that uses one of those images as the anchor line. Make the chorus two to four lines long.
5. Draft verse one using the other images and a time or place crumb. Keep each verse to four lines.
6. Write a pre chorus that builds tension using shorter words and a rising melody.
7. Record a quick demo in your DAW. Use a simple two chord loop if you are stuck. Use a field recording for texture if it helps.
8. Play for one friend and ask one question. Did any line make you see something? Keep what works and stop editing.

Examples of songs about weather and seasons and what they teach

Here are a few famous examples and why they work so well.

• Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles. It uses sun as a symbol of relief. The melody is simple and the title is a promise. You can steal the structural shape of repeating a hopeful line after compact verses.
• Set Fire to the Rain by Adele. The paradoxical image makes the chorus unforgettable. The song frames emotional conflict inside impossible weather imagery which is also physically impossible. That tension sells the emotion.
• November Rain by Guns N Roses. The slow build and orchestral palette feel cinematic. Use orchestral or wider arrangements when you want weather to feel epic.

FAQ about writing songs about weather and seasons

Can I write a weather song without using weather words

Yes. Use objects and actions that are tied to the weather. For example write about wet shoes, the smell of wet asphalt, the sound of a radiator. The listener will infer weather and you will avoid cliché.

Is it cliché to write about rain

No, only if you rely on tired metaphors without specificity. Rain is a tool. Use it with an unusual object or a small twist and it becomes fresh.

Should the music mimic the weather literally

Sometimes. Mimicry helps in the arrangement but you can also create emotional contrast by pairing cold lyrics with bright music. Decide which serves the song better.

How do I avoid being too sentimental

Use concrete sensory details and small actions. Sentimentality fades when the listener can see and touch what you describe. Keep the emotional language specific rather than generic.

What tempo works best for weather songs

There is no one tempo. Match the tempo to the emotional pace. For reflective winter songs try slower tempos around 60 to 80 beats per minute. For hot summer anthems try 100 to 120. BPM means beats per minute. It is the speed of the song.

FAQ Schema