sudden shower; sudden downpour
A brief, often intense rain that starts and stops abruptly. More literary than にわか雨, which is the everyday word.
A sudden shower passed through on a summer afternoon.
I got caught in a sudden downpour and was soaked.
spring shower; spring rain
Standard kanji spelling. The character 驟 is not a jōyō kanji, but the compound is well-established.
Mixed kana-kanji spelling sometimes used to avoid the uncommon kanji 驟.
From Middle Chinese 驟雨 (dzrjuwH hjuX). The first character 驟 means 'sudden, rapid' and the second 雨 means 'rain'. The reading しゅうう is the on'yomi.