history
From the late-Tang poet 许浑 in 《咸阳城东楼》 (East Tower of Xianyang City). The couplet reads 溪云初起日沉阁，山雨欲来风满楼 (clouds rise over the stream as the sun sinks behind the pavilion; the mountain rain is about to come, and wind fills the tower). Originally a pure landscape image, it later became the go-to metaphor for political or organisational foreboding.
usage
Almost always figurative in modern use - impending crisis, scandal, power shift, war. A journalistic favorite. The literal sense (an approaching weather front) is rarely invoked.
