Describing the temperature/weather
Dear Members of SpanishD!ct
I have a question about describing the weather in both the present and the past (imperfect) tense.
My first question is very simple - how do you say things like:
"It is hot", "It is cold", "It is sunny", "it is raining",
My second question is set in the context of:
"el verano pasado nos fuimos de vacaciones a Espana"
Am I correct in using the imperfect to describe the temperature as this is a describing situation?
How do I say:
"It was hot" "It was cold" "It was sunny" "It was raining"
Thank you all for help!
4 Answers
Hacía calor, hacía frio, hacía sol, llovía. and that is how you would describe the weather that you had on your holidays last year. Your first question is hace in all cases exept the rain for that you just say Llueve for it is raining.
For is such as in the phrase it is hot I would say esta as in esta caliente. For was such as in it was hot I would say era as in era caliente.
A) there is no possible way to justify switching between "ser" and "estar" simply on the basis of tense/time frame.
B) You could choose either verb but you'd still be wrong. Of objects that feel hot/cold to the touch, one can say está caliente/frió (not "ser") but for weather neither "ser" nor "estar" will work. For weather, "hace calor/frío" (note: "calor/frío" are nouns in this construction (on the very literal level, you are not saying that something is hot/cold [despite how you might say it in English] but, rater, "it makes heat/cold".).
If, for whatever reason, you absolutely must use "ser" forget about the weather. You then need to be speaking of things that are characteristically/inherently hot/cold e.g. fire, ice, etc.
On present: Hace calor/frío.-- Está soleado/nublado/lloviendo. _
In the past: Hacía calor/frío.-- Estaba (or estuvo)soleado/nublado/lloviendo. 
For is such as in the phrase it is hot I would say esta as in esta caliente. For was such as in it was hot I would say era as in era caliente.
