Includes all higher summits in the southern half of Wales: the Bannau Brycheiniog / Brecon Beacons National Park, southern Cambrian Mountains and highest Preseli hills.
Brecon Beacons
Tuesday 23rd December 2025
Last updated
Mon 22nd Dec 25 at
4:08PM
A fairly extensive sheet of cloud cloaks eastern Scotland southward down the Pennines and east Wales; some mist and haze, fine drizzle on eastern slopes. Cloud more broken on slopes and summits near west coasts, substantially dry here. An easterly wind south Pennines and Wales, strengthening into night.
Cloudy and hazy east, some breaks west; blustery in exposure
At and before dawn, southeasterly 30-35mph. Shifting easterly and easing to around 20mph for a few hours, then a gusty northeasterly afternoon into dusk, strengthening again with 35mph gusts.
Changeable: fairly small around the midday hours, though gusty in exposure; walking more strenuous early and late in the day.
Patchy light rain
Some light patchy rain here and there, though amounting to little with many hills often dry.
Fairly extensive
High tops in fog most or all day. Lower banks will come and go, reaching as low as valley bottoms early in the day in the east. Bases tend to be higher on the southwestern slopes.
20%
Best of sun breaks on low slopes of the western Cambrians, little sun elsewhere. Good visibility out of cloud but limited by haze.
3 or 4C; notably warmer on westernmost slopes, perhaps locally up to 7C at first. Lowering into and overnight, perhaps to 0C in the east.
Above the summits; then dropping close to freezing on some higher eastern slopes into night; westernmost slopes likely stay above freezing.
Brecon Beacons
Wednesday 24th December 2025
Last updated
Mon 22nd Dec 25 at
4:08PM
A gusty easterly, 35-45mph.
Strenuous-to-arduous walking with buffeting in exposure. Expect stability challenges and significant wind chill.
No rain expected
Mostly high eastern terrain
Cloud banks frequently covering high terrain of the Black Mountains and Pen-Y-Fan group. More patchy to the west, southern slopes often free of cloud, and generally improving more widely later.
50%
Patchy sunshine to the east, more often sunny west. A haze at first but visibility improving.
-1C east, up to 3C westernmost hills, becoming more widely cool late in the day. Feeling like -10 to -13C in direct wind.
Poorly defined: 700-800m, though milder downslope winds to the west will reduce freezing potential here.
Brecon Beacons
Thursday 25th December 2025
Last updated
Mon 22nd Dec 25 at
4:08PM
Easterly 45-55mph, very strong gusts in exposure and downslope to the west, particularly western Cambrians.
Challenging conditions in exposure with gusts nearly constantly challenging stability. Severe wind chill.
No rain expected
Mostly high eastern tops
Banks come and go over the high terrain around the Black Mountains, patchier near Pen-Y-Fan, and more fleeting on other high tops. Many slopes further west stay clear, particularly the coastal-facing Cambrians.
60%
Patchy sunshine east, more extensive westernmost slopes. Excellent visibility.
-1C, westernmost slopes a few degrees warmer. Feeling like -15C or colder in direct wind.
300-400m from dawn, rising slightly, up to 600m in the west.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will be dry: easterly winds are dominant with the strongest winds in England and Wales. Cloud may be fairly sheet-like in the east sometimes, though variably more extensive or broken, best of breaks in western areas. Turning colder too, the coldest air in England and Wales with freezing levels reaching as low as 400-600m in east Wales. Staying slightly warmer in northern Scotland with some inversion conditions likely over higher terrain; frost into glens and poorly defined freezing levels. High pressure stays put to the north into the weekend, maintaining dry weather, easterly winds, and most cloud in eastern areas. Temperatures will stay chilly.