“Neither dew nor rain”
As surely as the LORD lives, the God of Israel before whom I stand, there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word! (1 Kings 17:1 BSB)
What it sounds like today
A prophet simply predicting a bad dry spell.
The cultural key
Elijah's drought is a targeted theological strike, not random weather. Ahab and Jezebel had made Baal the state god of Israel, and Baal was worshiped precisely as the lord of storm, cloud, and rain, the giver of fertility to the land. So a multi-year drought announced in the name of the LORD is a public challenge on Baal's home ground: if Baal commands the rain, let him produce it; he cannot. The Mount Carmel showdown that follows is a contest over who actually controls the sky, resolved when the LORD alone sends first fire and finally rain. Miss that Baal was the rain-god, and the whole confrontation loses its point.
Recovered meaning
The drought is aimed straight at Baal, the storm-god Israel had adopted: the LORD switches off the very rain Baal was supposed to command. The Elijah cycle is one long duel over who sends the weather.