What you will hear, and in what order
A television forecast follows a script that barely changes from day to day. It opens with today's or tomorrow's general picture across the country, usually with a satellite image and a sentence about a high pressure system or a front. Then comes the local forecast: sky condition, rain probability, the high and low temperatures, wind, and sometimes waves for coastal areas. Then a regional round-up with a map of city names and icons, and finally the weekly outlook, shūkan yohō.
Because the order is fixed, you can listen with a template in your head and fill in the blanks. Before the presenter starts, you already know that the next thing will be a sky word, then a percentage, then two temperatures. This is the single most important trick for forecast listening: predict the slot, then catch the value.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| それでは、お天気です。 | Sore de wa, o-tenki desu. | And now, the weather. |
| 明日の関東地方は、高気圧に覆われて晴れるでしょう。 | Ashita no Kantō chihō wa, kōkiatsu ni ōwarete hareru deshō. | Tomorrow the Kanto region will be covered by high pressure and should be sunny. |
| 前線の影響で、西日本では雨が降りやすくなります。 | Zensen no eikyō de, nishi Nihon de wa ame ga furiyasuku narimasu. | Because of a front, western Japan will be prone to rain. |
The sky words and the two endings
The sky is described with a handful of nouns: hare, sunny; kumori, cloudy; ame, rain; yuki, snow. They are joined with three connectors that carry precise meanings. Nochi means the weather changes and stays changed, so hare nochi kumori is sunny then cloudy. Tokidoki means on and off, so kumori tokidoki ame is cloudy with rain at times. Ichiji means a single short spell, so kumori ichiji ame is cloudy with a brief period of rain.
Predictions end in one of two ways. Deshō is the forecast's version of will probably, attached to a plain verb or adjective: hareru deshō, it will be sunny; ame ga furu deshō, rain will fall. Mikomi desu means it is expected to, and follows a plain form or a noun with no: kaifuku suru mikomi desu, expected to improve. Both are read quickly and softly, so listen for the sky word and the number in front.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 明日は晴れのち曇りでしょう。 | Ashita wa hare nochi kumori deshō. | Tomorrow will be sunny, then cloudy. |
| 曇り時々雨となるでしょう。 | Kumori tokidoki ame to naru deshō. | It will be cloudy with rain at times. |
| 午後は一時雨が降る見込みです。 | Gogo wa ichiji ame ga furu mikomi desu. | A brief spell of rain is expected in the afternoon. |
| 夕方から次第に回復するでしょう。 | Yūgata kara shidai ni kaifuku suru deshō. | It should gradually clear from the evening. |
| 朝晩は冷え込むでしょう。 | Asaban wa hiekomu deshō. | Mornings and evenings will be cold. |
Rain probability, temperatures and wind
Numbers are where most listeners lose the thread, so pre-learn the three number patterns the forecast uses. The rain probability, kōsui kakuritsu, is always a multiple of ten read with pāsento: jippāsento or juppāsento, nijuppāsento, sanjuppāsento, yonjuppāsento, gojuppāsento and so on. The small tsu in juppāsento is the sound to listen for. Zero pāsento is often replaced by the phrase ame no shinpai wa arimasen, no need to worry about rain.
Temperatures come as a pair: saikō kion, the high, and saitei kion, the low, read with do. Presenters add a comparison with yesterday or with the seasonal average, heinen, using yori and a difference: heinen yori takaku, higher than normal. Wind is direction plus strength: kita no kaze, north wind; yaya tsuyoku, somewhat strong; and for coasts, nami no takasa, wave height.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 降水確率は午前が二十パーセント、午後が六十パーセントです。 | Kōsui kakuritsu wa gozen ga nijuppāsento, gogo ga rokujuppāsento desu. | The rain probability is twenty percent in the morning and sixty percent in the afternoon. |
| 最高気温は二十八度、最低気温は十九度の予想です。 | Saikō kion wa nijūhachi do, saitei kion wa jūkyū do no yosō desu. | The forecast high is twenty-eight degrees and the low nineteen. |
| 昨日より三度ほど高くなりそうです。 | Kinō yori san do hodo takaku narisō desu. | It looks like being about three degrees warmer than yesterday. |
| 北の風がやや強く吹くでしょう。 | Kita no kaze ga yaya tsuyoku fuku deshō. | A somewhat strong north wind will blow. |
| 海上では波の高さが三メートルの見込みです。 | Kaijō de wa nami no takasa ga san mētoru no mikomi desu. | At sea, waves are expected to reach three metres. |
Vocabulary to pre-learn
Almost every forecast draws on the list below. Learn the reading and the meaning together, because the words are read fast and the kanji on screen disappear before you can process them.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 天気予報 | tenki yohō | weather forecast |
| 降水確率 | kōsui kakuritsu | probability of precipitation |
| 最高気温 | saikō kion | highest temperature |
| 最低気温 | saitei kion | lowest temperature |
| 高気圧 | kōkiatsu | high pressure system |
| 低気圧 | teikiatsu | low pressure system |
| 前線 | zensen | weather front |
| 梅雨 | tsuyu | the rainy season |
| 台風 | taifū | typhoon |
| 大雨 | ōame | heavy rain |
| 雷 | kaminari | thunder, lightning |
| 猛暑日 | mōshobi | extremely hot day, thirty-five degrees or more |
| 真冬日 | mafuyubi | day when the high stays below zero |
| 洗濯指数 | sentaku shisū | laundry index, how well washing will dry |
The indexes at the end of a forecast are worth knowing because they are pure vocabulary: sentaku shisū for laundry, kafun jōhō for pollen, shigaisen for ultraviolet. Once you know the word, the number that follows is self-explanatory.
Warnings, advisories and typhoon language
When the weather turns dangerous, the forecast changes register. The vocabulary of warnings is standardised across the country, so learning it once covers every broadcast. A chūihō is an advisory, a keihō is a warning, and a tokubetsu keihō is a special warning reserved for extreme events. The hazard comes first: ōame chūihō, a heavy rain advisory; bōfū keihō, a storm wind warning; ōyuki keihō, a heavy snow warning.
Typhoons are numbered, not named, in Japanese broadcasts: taifū jūgō is typhoon number ten. You will hear its position, its direction of movement with kita-higashi e susumu, moving north-east, and its expected approach or landfall with sekkin and jōriku. Presenters add instructions such as keikai shite kudasai, please be on alert, and in serious cases read out evacuation information for specific municipalities.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 東京地方に大雨注意報が出ています。 | Tōkyō chihō ni ōame chūihō ga dete imasu. | A heavy rain advisory is in effect for the Tokyo area. |
| 暴風警報が発表されました。 | Bōfū keihō ga happyō saremashita. | A storm wind warning has been issued. |
| 台風十号は明日の朝、九州に上陸する見込みです。 | Taifū jūgō wa ashita no asa, Kyūshū ni jōriku suru mikomi desu. | Typhoon number ten is expected to make landfall in Kyushu tomorrow morning. |
| 土砂災害に警戒してください。 | Dosha saigai ni keikai shite kudasai. | Please be on alert for landslides. |
| 不要不急の外出は控えてください。 | Fuyō fukyū no gaishutsu wa hikaete kudasai. | Please refrain from non-essential outings. |
The regional segment and place names
The regional round-up is the fastest part of the forecast and the part learners most often give up on. A map appears with city names, and the presenter runs through them in a fixed geographic order, usually from north to south: Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Naha.
The trick is to know your own region's name and the names on either side of it, so you can hear when your turn is coming. Regions are named with chihō: Hokkaidō, Tōhoku, Kantō, Hokuriku, Tōkai, Kinki, Chūgoku, Shikoku, Kyūshū and Okinawa. Within a region, the forecast splits areas with terms like engan, coastal, and naitiku, inland, or nihonkai-gawa, the Sea of Japan side, and taiheiyō-gawa, the Pacific side.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 北日本は雪、東日本は晴れる所が多いでしょう。 | Kita Nihon wa yuki, higashi Nihon wa hareru tokoro ga ōi deshō. | Northern Japan will see snow, and much of eastern Japan will be sunny. |
| 日本海側では大雪に注意してください。 | Nihonkai-gawa de wa ōyuki ni chūi shite kudasai. | On the Sea of Japan side, watch out for heavy snow. |
| 近畿地方は午後から雨の範囲が広がるでしょう。 | Kinki chihō wa gogo kara ame no han'i ga hirogaru deshō. | In the Kinki region, the rain will spread from the afternoon. |
| 沖縄は蒸し暑い一日になりそうです。 | Okinawa wa mushiatsui ichinichi ni narisō desu. | Okinawa looks set for a hot and humid day. |
Why forecasts are hard to hear
Three things make forecast listening harder than the vocabulary suggests. First, speed: presenters have a fixed slot and a lot of cities to cover, so they read at the upper end of natural speech. Second, the polite endings are compressed. Deshō often comes out closer to desho with a short vowel, mikomi desu loses its final u, and to naru deshō can sound like tonarudesho as a single word. Third, the numbers cluster: two percentages and two temperatures in one breath, with the second pair only marked by ga or wa.
None of this is unpredictable: you know a number is coming, you know its range, and the ending will be one of two options. The drill below turns that knowledge into a habit.
- Day one: watch one forecast with the sound off and read the on-screen numbers aloud in Japanese
- Day two: listen to the same forecast with sound and tick the template slots as each value goes by
- Day three: listen first, write the sky, percentage, high and low, then check against the screen
- Day four: shadow the presenter, speaking half a second behind, for the local forecast only
- Day five: listen to the regional segment and catch only your region's line
- Day six: listen to a radio forecast with no visuals and write everything you can
- Day seven: explain tomorrow's weather to someone in your own Japanese, using deshō
Repeat the cycle each week with a different city. After a month, the numbers arrive already understood.
When you miss something
Missing a number is normal, even for native listeners who are half paying attention. The forecast is redundant by design: the number is on screen, it is repeated in the regional segment, and your phone has it. What you should train is recovering quickly. If the percentage went past, do not chase it; wait for the temperature slot, which you know is next, and catch that instead.
When talking about the weather with people, you can also ask them to confirm what you heard. These phrases are natural at work or with a host family, and they turn a listening gap into a small conversation.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 明日、雨ですか。傘、いりますか。 | Ashita, ame desu ka. Kasa, irimasu ka. | Is it raining tomorrow? Do I need an umbrella? |
| 降水確率、何パーセントって言ってました？ | Kōsui kakuritsu, nan pāsento tte ittemashita? | What percent did they say the rain probability was? |
| 台風、こっちに来るんですか。 | Taifū, kotchi ni kuru n desu ka. | Is the typhoon coming this way? |
| 明日は何度くらいになりますか。 | Ashita wa nan do kurai ni narimasu ka. | About how many degrees will it be tomorrow? |