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Note:Times are GMT (UTC, Z). Observations at this station [ ] are 24-h 09-09 GMT, some others { } occasionally refer to other 24-h periods, extremes (first indications) are usually given in bold. When averages are referred to (.) compares with the last decade and [.] with the 30-y climatological average [1991-2020]. All data are subject to verification and amendment. Javascript must be enabled to see the pop-up graphics. You may need to refresh your browser to see the latest page.. 2026 January 2 - a fine cold morning after recent showers of snow pellets and a few flakes of snow. At 0940 GMT a 10th The first snowdrops were spotted in the garden today, six days later than the median date of appearance in records since 1994. The earliest was 17 December 2001 and the latest 23 January 1997. Another sunny morning with backlit cumulus clouds over the mountains and crepuscular rays in the Nant Ffrancon Valley. There had been a white frost and freezing rain on surfaces, on the grass and fields ground was frozen hard with ice on water. There were remnants of snow around the garden and snow was lying on the mountains above 2000 ft with some as low as 500 ft on the Carneddau [Max 8.7C Min 0.3C Grass -3.9C (lowest of month) Pptn 1.5 mm].
19th A sunny morning with hardly a cloud to be seen and a light intermittent SE'ly breeze. Frosty again with ice on water. There was snow on the mountains some areas around summits were covered and there were patches in other places. In the evening a strong coronal mass ejection from the sun produced a brilliant display of northern lights (aurora borealis) here and further south in parts of Europe normally occur in higher latidues and Arctic regions [Max 10.0 Min 1.4C Grass -2.1C Pptn nil].
27th Storm Chandra. A cloudy morning with sky overcast and rain in sight. Pressure 975 mb was falling with low 958 mb Celtic Sea and following low 958 mb. We were in warm sector air the temperature at 0900 GMT 6.8C with 86% RH. Severe winds were blowing to the north Malin Head gusting 81 mph and St Bees 74 mph. Toward the east coast of England at Donna Nook 54 mph. To the south Scilly Is. 67 mph where a lot of damage to buildings was reported. The day brightened up here and we had a little sunshine with the wind E'ly strengthening, but remaining largely sheltered by the mountains and woodland trees highest gust 34 mph. In Llanfairfechan Gorwel Heights recorded 56 mph and Gorddinog 61 mph, Capel Curig reported 60 mph, Valley A.P. 53 mph and Mona A.P. 46 mph [Max 11.6C Min 4.1C Grass 3.6C Pptn 0.8 mm]. SummaryRare snowfalls, most lying snow since 2010, and SE'ly winds resulting in rain-shadow effect with near average rainfall, lee sunshine and average temperatures.Snow was at the beginning of the month, mostly quiet bright weather in the second half Snow and sleet occurred on seven consecutive days 2- 8th and resulted in six days of lying snow at 0900 GMT. Small hail (ice pellets) and snow pellets fell on seven days 1-7th. Snow depth was greater on the 4th to the 5th 10 cm, 10 cm and 11 cm. Snowfall like this is rare at the weather station, but similar occurred in January 2010 when snow lay for none days 5-13th with a maximum depth of 3 cm on the 6th, and December 2010 when snow lay for 14 days 1-4th and 17-27th with a maximum depth of 26.5 cm on the 22nd. The heavy fall this January was linked to convergent showers moving in off the Irish Sea on a northerly wind (of late similar clouds have been called the Pembrokeshre Dangler when convergent clouds move on to Pembrokeshre off Cardigan Bay, and was the cause of the recent snowfall on the beach at Aberffraw. Convergent clouds are not uncommon and develop over Llansadwrn in the summer giving the place a reputation for lack of sunshine, even rain and the odd thunderstorm, when the rest of the island is bathed in sunshine. Precipitation totalled 107.5 mm (87%) & [104%] of averages, least since 2022. The 'snow spell 2-8th' accounted for 48.8 mm precipitation (snow, hail and rain) nearly half of the months total. The largest daily falls were on the 2nd with 16.2 mm and 3rd with 13.3 mm. Days with no precipitation numbered 5 (+0.9); dry days were 5 (-2.8); rain days 26 (+2.8); wet days 19 (+2.9); and days with 5 mm, or more, were 8 (0.0). Llanfairfechan was both much windier and wetter, but had only 1 day with lying snow. At Gorwel Heights rainfall was . 133.4 mm (111%) & [150%] of averages with the wettest day 21.6 mm on the 26th. The spell 2-8th had 23.4 mm. David Lees' station Gorddinog was wetter with 31.9 mm recorded on the same day. Rainfall duration (wet hours) in Llansadwrn was 143 h and at Gorwel Heights 153 h . The mean temperature at Llansadwrn was 5.5C (-0.2) & [+0.1] of averages, highest since 2024. The mean maximum was 8.3C with the highest maximum 12.0C on the 11th. The mean minimum was 2.6C with the lowest -1.3C on the 5th and 6th. There were 3 days (-0.3) with air frost with 16.0 h below freezing. There were 14 days with ground frost (-2.4) with the lowest temperature -3.9C on the 10th (+2.2). At Gorwel Heights the mean temperature was 6.0C (-0.5) & [-0.2] of averages. The mean maximum was 8.2C with the highest maximum 14.2C on the 11th and lowest 2.9C on the 4th. The mean minimum was 3.9C with the highest 9.7C on the 12th and lowest -0.1C on the 5th with just a touch of frost 0.2 h. A feature of the month were the number of days with an easterly or south-easterly wind. At Gorwel Heights 14 and in Llansadwrn 11. Also sustained wind speeds were much higher at Gorwel than in Llansadwrn. Sunshine at RAF Valley was 70.8 h (provisional) (133%) & [125%] of averages, highest since 2011 ranking 15 on the Anglesey record from 1931. Sunniest day was the 25th with 7.2 h, there were 8 sunless days two more than in Llansadwrn.
2026 February 2 - in prep.
February 2026Dullest February for nearly 50 years. Milder and wetter than average.Spells of wet and windy weather coolest mid to end of month. Rainfall was 117.5 mm (106%) & [130%] of averages most since 2024 ranking 19th wettest in Llansadwrn since 1928. It joined the ranks of 30 other Februarys in the 99 years having more than 100 mm. The wettest day was on the 21st with 18.0 mm. There was just one dry day on the 28th that was particularly bright and sunny. Four days were recorded as dry (<0.2 mm) (-4.6); there were 24 rain days (+4.3); 20 wet days (+6.2) and 9 days had 5 mm, or more. Rainfall duration was 166 h (wet hour precipitation) the average fall per hour being 0.8 mm. Rainfall at Gorwel Heights in Llanfairfechan reached 132.6 mm (139%) & [177%] of averages most since 2024 and 5th largest in records since 2011. The wettest day was on the 5th with 24.8 mm while 18.4 mm fell on the 3rd and 12.8 mm on the 1st making a very wet start to the month. Dry days were 3; rain days 25; wet days 18, and 9 days had 5 mm, or more. Rainfall duration was 158 wet hours with an average fall of 0.8 mm/hour. A mild month with temperatures significantly above 30-y climatological averages. In Llansadwrn the mean temperature was 6.6C highest since 2024 ranking 11th in station records since 1979. The mean maximum was 8.7C with the highest 11.8C on the 24th and lowest 4.4C on the 13th. The mean minimum was 4.6C with the lowest -1.0C on the 14th the only air frost while on the grass with 4 ground frosts the lowest recorded was -4.2C also on the 14h. At Gorwel Heights the mean temperature was 7.7C highest since 2024 ranking 5th highest in records since 2011. The mean maximum was 9.6C with the highest 15.3C on the 25th 4th highest in records. The mean minimum was 5.3C with the highest 10.2C on the 26th and lowest 0.3C on the 14th. At RAF Valley sunshine was 37.4h (provisional) making it the dullest February since 1980 (36.4h) and the 2nd dullest in 47 years. There were 10 sunless days, there were 13 in Llansadwrn. The funniest day was on the 28th with 6.5 h. In Llansadwrn solar radiation on that day was 12.79 MJ m -2 compared with 1.75 MJ m -2 on the 1st that was the dullest day.
Winter 2025/26Milder and wetter than average. Rainfall ranked 18th wettest in Llansadwrn records while temperatures ranked 10th in station records..
Monthly data 2026
Llanfairfechan, Gorwel Heights observations
AcknowledgementsThe Met Office at RAF Valley kindly supplied observational data from 1942 to 2011. Current data (provisional) are gathered from SYNOP reports and METAR, final data from the Met Office website. I am grateful to David Lee for use of his data from Gorddinog, and Gordon Perkins (BlueTractorSoftware) for observations at Gorwel Heights, programming and additional observations and photographs.
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 "Clouds that brought heavy falls of snow pellets and snow to Llansadwrn.")
 "Green and red aurora borealis photographed at Gorwel Heights by Millie Perkins on 19 January 2026.")
 "Red aurora borealis photographed at Gorwel Heights by Millie Perkins on 19 January 2026.")
