Weather influences our daily lives. It can change moods, shift plans, or spark conversations with strangers. While we often gripe about the rain or rejoice in the sunshine, some poets have chosen to take a more humorous route. They use wit, irony, and clever observation to poke fun at the weather’s extremes, its unpredictability, and our obsession with it.
In this article, we explore 11 funny poems about the weather—some short and sweet, others excerpted—each filled with playful imagery and clever language. These works remind us that no matter how stormy life gets, laughter can always shine through.
11 Hilarious Poems That Play with the Weather
1. “Weather” by Eve Merriam
Source: Eve Merriam, “It Doesn’t Always Have to Rhyme” (1964)
Eve Merriam’s Weather is a delightful poem often taught in elementary schools. With its simplicity and sound play, it gives the reader a sense of changing skies in a fun, almost musical rhythm.
“Dot a dot dot dot a dot dot
Spotting the windowpane.”
Merriam captures rain not with a scientific explanation but through sound and sensation. The poem imitates raindrops hitting glass, making it perfect for reading aloud. Though brief, its cheerful tone turns dreary drizzle into a song.
2. “Rain” by Spike Milligan
Source: Spike Milligan, “Silly Verse for Kids” (1959)
The beloved British comedian Spike Milligan often approached poetry with nonsense and absurdity. His poem Rain is as playful as it is dry-witted.
“There are holes in the sky
Where the rain gets in,
But they’re ever so small
That’s why rain is thin.”
Milligan’s explanation for rain is hilariously illogical. Yet, it’s clever enough to make adults chuckle and children curious. It’s classic Milligan: childlike, surreal, and irresistibly funny.
3. “The Weather” by Ogden Nash
Source: Ogden Nash, “Versus” (1949)
Ogden Nash, known for his light verse and comic timing, brings his trademark style to the poem The Weather. He humorously mocks our universal complaints about it.
“The weather is always a subject for prattle.
It gets all mixed up with the heat of the battle.”
Nash plays with rhyme and rhythm while poking fun at how obsessed people are with discussing the weather. In his typical style, the poem stretches rhyme to its limits, forcing giggles with odd pairings and exaggerated ideas.
4. “January” by John Updike
Source: John Updike, “A Child’s Calendar” (1965)
Though better known as a novelist, Updike’s poems for children are filled with observational humor. January is no exception.
“The radiator purrs
Like a strange cat
And our feet are never
Never flat
On the icy floor.”
This charming poem doesn’t mock the weather directly but finds humor in the human response to cold. The radiator’s purring and our curling toes show how winter changes our behavior in small, funny ways.
5. “Whether the Weather” (Traditional)
Source: Traditional English nursery rhyme
This old tongue-twister captures weather confusion in a humorous chant. Though the author is unknown, it’s been recited for generations.
“Whether the weather be fine,
Or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold,
Or whether the weather be hot…”
It’s amusingly redundant and meant to trip up the tongue, but its repetition is part of the charm. Children love it, and adults can’t help but grin when they fumble the words.
6. “Summer” by Shel Silverstein
Source: Shel Silverstein, “Where the Sidewalk Ends” (1974)
Shel Silverstein’s Summer is a brilliant, ironic twist on seasonal preference.
“I’ve got to stay in and not get too hot.
I’ve got to stay out and not get too cold.
The weather is never just right, I’m told…”
In a few short lines, Silverstein captures the constant contradiction of human nature. We complain about every season. His light rhymes and humorous tone underscore a universal truth: we’re never satisfied.
7. “Weather Report” by David Harrison
Source: David L. Harrison, “Somebody Catch My Homework” (2009)
This poem, though modern, reads like a classic humorous school-day verse. Harrison imagines the weather as something unreliable and mischievous.
“The weatherman said there’d be sun today,
But he’s often wrong, what can I say?
I wore my shorts—now I regret,
It’s snowing hard, and I’m soaking wet!”
Children and adults alike can relate. The poem mixes slapstick and sarcasm, turning the frustrations of bad forecasting into a reason to laugh.
8. “A Rainy Day” by John Kendrick Bangs
Source: John Kendrick Bangs, “The Bicyclers and Three Other Farces” (1896)
An often-overlooked humorous poet, John Kendrick Bangs offers this poem as a sarcastic ode to rainy days:
“Oh, it’s a day for a duck,
For a fish, or a frog, or a goose,
For a thing that delights in the wet,
But it gives me a case of the blues.”
Bangs’ dry wit turns foul weather into a moment of comic despair. It’s theatrical and expressive, fitting for a writer of comic plays and farces.
9. “The Wind” by James Reeves
Source: James Reeves, “The Wind” from Collected Poems for Children (1950)
Reeves treats the wind like a mischievous child in this poem, giving it a personality full of tricks and trouble.
“I saw the wind chasing the leaves
Like children running in the park.
I saw the wind tease the trees
Until they laughed in the dark.”
His use of metaphor turns a natural force into a playful figure, evoking the kind of laughter that follows a clever comparison. It’s nature seen through a funhouse mirror.
10. “The Snowball” by Shel Silverstein
Source: Shel Silverstein, “Falling Up” (1996)
Another Silverstein classic, The Snowball is about a boy who makes a snowball and treats it like a pet.
“I made myself a snowball
As perfect as could be.
I thought I’d keep it as a pet
And let it sleep with me.”
The twist comes hilariously:
“I made it some pajamas
And a pillow for its head.
Then last night it ran away—
But first it wet the bed.”
This poem gets laughs from the surprise ending and the silliness of the whole idea. It’s weather-based humor at its childlike best.
11. “What I Hate About Rain” by Douglas Florian
Source: Douglas Florian, “Laugh-eteria: Poems and Drawings” (1999)
Florian’s playful, pun-filled poetry takes aim at rain in this humorous critique.
“It pelts and pounds upon my brain.
It makes my socks all soggy-soaked.
My shoes get squishy, squashed, and soaked!”
The poem uses alliteration and internal rhyme to heighten its silly frustration. It’s theatrical and dramatic in a way that only a soaked child can truly understand.
Conclusion
These eleven poems highlight the human tendency to grumble about the weather while still finding joy in its unpredictability. From Silverstein’s silly snowball to Milligan’s nonsensical holes in the sky, these poems invite us to laugh at rain, snow, wind, and sun.
Humor gives us a way to cope with cloudy days and frozen fingers. It also allows poets to explore everyday frustrations with a light heart. So the next time it rains unexpectedly or the sun scorches the sidewalk, remember that somewhere, a poet is turning it into a joke—and we’re all better for it.
Whether you’re young or old, there’s something universally comforting in knowing that we can laugh at the very things we can’t control. The weather may be wild, but humor keeps us grounded.
