76757
Just wondering how nouns like 雨 or 雪 can be used alone to mean 'rainy
(weather)' or 'snowy (weather)' respectively, when they already can mean rain
or snow, but 風 cannot be used in the same sense to mean 'windy (weather)' and
must instead be used in a phrase like

> A: 今日の天気予報は何ですか。  
>  B: 今日は風が強い。
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2020-04-22T21:28:11.673
76756
2020-04-24T18:09:36.507
2020-04-23T06:09:53.037
36655
36655
question
nuances nouns
Reason for 風が強い vs. 雨だ or 雪だ
It seems like 雨 or 雪 are viewed as weather phenomena, which are more black-
and-white (either it rains/snows or it doesn't) whereas wind lies on a
continuous spectrum. So to say "windy weather" (which in English also should
be understood as " _stronger than usual_ wind") in Japanese it seems more
common to say 風が強い, meaning that often during the day the wind tends to be
towards the "strong" end of the spectrum.

In English, "rainy" or "snowy" can be understood as "raining/snowing _on and
off_ ", (similarly "gusty"). On the other hand, you can't say "haily",
presumably because "hailing on and off" is not perceived as a natural weather
condition.
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2020-04-22T21:58:50.057
76757
2020-04-22T21:58:50.057
1628
76756
answer
I think it's also if you'd say 今日はかぜだ I'd right away interpret it as 今日は風邪だ
(the speaker having a cold today), rather than it being a windy day, so it
might also be to avoid confusion.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-24T18:09:36.507
76795
2020-04-24T18:09:36.507
38684
76756
answer