ザーザー, ゴロゴロ, シトシト — Japanese Weather Onomatopoeia

Japanese has an enormous set of onomatopoeia for describing weather. Rain alone has four different words depending on intensity; wind, thunder, and snow each have their own dedicated expressions. Once you learn these, your weather talk goes way beyond 雨です ("It's raining").

Rain Sounds

From lightest to heaviest: ポツポツ → パラパラ → シトシト → ザーザー

朝からシトシト雨が降っている。 → It's been drizzling softly since morning.

急にザーザー降り出した。 → It suddenly started pouring.

ポツポツ降ってきたから、傘を持っていこう。 → A few drops are starting to fall — let's bring an umbrella.

パラパラと雨が降ったが、すぐ止んだ。 → There was a brief shower, but it stopped right away.

Grammar: ~ と降る

Rain onomatopoeia typically follow the pattern "onomatopoeia + (と) + 降る." The particle と is often dropped in casual speech:

Wind Sounds

Both ビュービュー and ヒューヒュー describe strong wind, but ビュービュー emphasizes raw force while ヒューヒュー conveys a cold, eerie feeling:

台風でビュービュー風が吹いている。 → The wind is howling from the typhoon.

冬の夜、ヒューヒューと風が鳴っている。 → On a winter night, the wind whistles eerily.

そよそよ is the only positive wind word — used for comfortable breezes:

そよそよと風が吹いて気持ちいい。 → A gentle breeze is blowing — it feels great.

Thunder & Lightning

ゴロゴロ — besides meaning "rolling around" — also represents distant thunder rumbling (context tells you which):

遠くでゴロゴロと雷が鳴っている。 → Thunder is rumbling in the distance.

ピカッ is not a repeating type — it ends with ッ to capture the instantaneous nature of lightning:

ピカッと光った。 → Lightning flashed.

バリバリ is the sound of a close thunderbolt — more sudden and violent than ゴロゴロ:

バリバリと雷が落ちた。 → Thunder cracked loudly overhead.

Snow & Ice

しんしん is written in hiragana and evokes the quiet beauty of snow falling steadily in silence:

雪がしんしんと降っている。 → Snow is falling silently and steadily.

ツルツル can describe smooth skin or slippery noodles, but in a weather context it means icy and slippery:

道がツルツルで滑りそうだ。 → The road is so icy I feel like I'll slip.

バリバリ here is the crunch of stepping on thin ice (same word as the thunder バリバリ, but different meaning):

氷をバリバリと踏んで歩いた。 → I walked along crunching through the ice.

Sun & Heat

ジリジリ emphasizes the feeling of the sun baking your skin:

太陽がジリジリと照りつける。 → The sun is beating down scorchingly.

カンカン specifically describes blazing sunshine and commonly appears in the set phrase カンカン照り:

カンカン照りの中を歩いた。 → I walked under the blazing sun.

ムシムシ is the quintessential rainy-season word — "muggy and damp":

今日はムシムシして暑い。 → It's muggy and hot today.

Nature Sounds

Two bonus words related to natural scenery:

川がサラサラと流れている。 → The river babbles along gently.

風で木がザワザワと揺れている。 → The wind rustles through the trees.

Quick Reference

Summary

• Rain alone has four words, from lightest to heaviest: ポツポツ → パラパラ → シトシト → ザーザー
• Wind words: そよそよ (pleasant) → ヒューヒュー (cold/eerie) → ビュービュー (powerful)
• Thunder uses ゴロゴロ (distant) and バリバリ (close); lightning uses ピカッ
• The summer trio: ジリジリ (scorching), カンカン (blazing), ムシムシ (muggy)
• Core grammar: onomatopoeia + (と) + verb — the と is often dropped in casual speech

Practice Quiz

Q1. Both シトシト and ザーザー describe rain. What's the difference?

Q2. Describe this scene in Japanese: "It's rainy season — muggy and hot, with thunder rumbling in the distance."

Q3. ゴロゴロ has at least two completely different meanings. What are they?