England NW & North Wales Climate
City Coverage: Manchester, Liverpool, Preston, Blackpool, Chester, Bangor, and Wrexham
This month in numbers
March 2026 was notably mild for England NW & North Wales, ranking as the 9th warmest March on record with an average temperature of 7.2°C, a significant 2.5°C above the 1961–1990 baseline. This continues a trend of reduced frost, with only 3 frost days recorded, making it the 9th lowest number of frost days in 96 years of records. Globally, April 2026 was the 2nd warmest April on record for land temperature, at 14.96°C, which is 1.1°C above the baseline.
What changed
The first three months of 2026 (January–March) saw a mean temperature of 5.43°C, ranking as the 16th warmest such period on record, 1.8°C above the baseline. This period also recorded the 14th lowest number of frost days, with 18 fewer mornings scraping ice off the car compared to a typical winter. Rainfall for the quarter was 356.2 mm, 42.4 mm above average, and there were 53 rain days, ranking as the 14th highest on record. This region's monthly temperature anomaly of +2.52°C places it 90th out of 234 regions globally for the latest month.
What’s driving change?
The mild conditions and reduced frost days in England NW & North Wales during March were influenced by a distinctly positive () which generally brings milder, wetter weather to northern Europe. The current ENSO state is Neutral, with an anomaly of +0.11°C, but El Niño is likely to emerge in the coming months, with a 61% chance in May-July 2026 and increasing to 87% by July-September 2026. El Niño typically brings cooler late winters to Northern Europe, though strong events can reverse this trend.
The region has also experienced an unusual concentration of wildfires recently. One wildfire event was logged between April 25 and May 1, representing 100% of the annual total for the past 12 months, which is an unusual concentration. Natural Resources Wales has urged caution due to dry conditions and an elevated wildfire risk. More information on active extreme weather events can be found at Extreme Weather tracker.
Looking ahead
Seasonal forecasts suggest a likely emergence of El Niño conditions during the boreal summer, which could bring warmer than average land surface temperatures across Europe for the May-July 2026 season.
Generated by Gemini from climate data and web sources
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Data Sources
Data Sources for England NW & North Wales
Every figure on this page is sourced from official, openly published climate datasets. Anomalies are calculated against the 1961–1990 baseline (temperature) and 1991–2020 (rainfall, sunshine, frost) — see the Methodology & Sources page for the complete dataset list and update calendar.
FAQs
FAQs
How is the climate in England NW & North Wales changing?
England NW & North Wales is warming in line with the rest of the world. The page above shows the latest monthly temperature anomaly versus the 1961-1990 baseline, the long-term annual trend, and the region's rank in the historical record. The trend rate is shown as °C per decade in the headline panel; you can also see the warmest and coolest years on file.
Where does the climate data for England NW & North Wales come from?
Climate data for England NW & North Wales comes from the UK Met Office HadUK-Grid (temperature, rainfall, sunshine, air frost), refreshed every month, when the upstream temperature and rainfall data are refreshed.
What is the climate baseline used on this page?
Anomalies on this page are calculated against the 1961-1990 climatological baseline, which is the standard reference period used by the Met Office, NOAA, IPCC and most national climate services. Some panels also show the source-native 1901-2000 (NOAA) or 1991-2020 (WMO) baselines for verification. See Methodology & Sources for the full reference.
Which areas does the England NW & North Wales climate data cover?
The England NW & North Wales climate profile covers Manchester, Liverpool, Preston, Blackpool and surrounding areas. North-west England and north Wales climate data
How often is the England NW & North Wales climate update refreshed?
The England NW & North Wales climate update is refreshed monthly, typically a few days after the previous month closes and the upstream provider (Met Office HadUK-Grid, NOAA Climate at a Glance, Copernicus ERA5 or the Global Carbon Project) publishes its update. See the Climate Rankings for cross-region comparisons.