Lake District Weather

Planning a climbing day out in the Lakes can be a frustrating (not to mention money-wasting) experience if you fail to "sync" with the weather. Here are some of the best sources of information.

Route Reports: Climbing reports submitted by climbers - small pinches of salt required:

UK Climbing The Winter Forum has some useful stuff, and quite a few reports. They also have a Winter Conditions page
FRCC A flurry of new routes reports on the FRCC website should give you an idea of conditions
Ann Bowker Not exactly climbing reports, but Ann goes for a walk in the Lakes most days and takes photos which then appear on her website Today's Photos page - very useful to see what things are looking like
Paddy Cave Lakes based outdoor ed instructor has a Lakes Winter Conditions Blog
Tony Richards Tony has a similar site to Ann Bowker
The Hileys As do the Hileys at Loweswater
Andrew Leaney ... And Andrew Leaney's Lakeland Fells site
Zac Poulton Lakes based winter instructor who works a lot in Scotland - has his own Blog

For more winter climbs sites see our Scottish Winter Conditions page

Weather Forecasts: Large pinches of salt required …

Lake District National Park Weatherline 24 hour forecast - ring 0870 0550575 at 6p/minute, or click the link for free. In an attempt to stop damage to extremely rare plant life, in winter the National Park also do a fell top assessment of conditions in the Helvellyn area and post on the website if they are too poor to justify climbing
The Met Office Five day regional forecasts and lots more
BBC 10 day regional forecasts and monthly outlook
Accu Weather 25 day regional forecasts
Weather Online Useful long range national forecasts (and annoying pop-up windows!)
Met Check Three day regional forecasts
MWIS The Mountain Weather Information Service (aka Geoff Monk) gives detailed forecasts three day forecasts for mountain areas in PDF format - generally accurate
YR.NO Joint online weather service from the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation and widely reckoned to be the most accurate available, with incredible detail.
Mountain Forecast Mountain Forecast gives individual mountain forecasts for 6 days for many areas of the world including the Lake District.
Windy.com Worldwide detailed longterm forecast of wind, rain, snow, temperature with amazing graphics.
Weather 2 Weather 2 has some useful satellite photos and weather charts as well as providing 14 day forecasts
ECMWF The European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts is has proved spookily accurate over recent years. To get to predicted synoptic charts go to High Resolution Forecast
The Weather Outlook Long term predictions
Snow Forecast Three day snow forecasts for the UK and elsewhere - more if you sign up
Keswick Weather Weather reports from Keswick courtesey of Barry Colam
Midge Forecast For Scotland only - but very useful if you are heading north (though perhaps more predictable than the weather!)

Webcams: See what's what!

Braithwaite The webcam at the Fernhowe Guest House in Braithwaite near Keswick shows ten different views which it cycles through, displaying each for 10 seconds. It zooms in on key points like Skiddaw, Cat Bells, Barrow, Walla Crag etc.
Derwentwater Derwentwater and lower Borrowdale as seen from Derwentwater Marina
Langstrath View up towards Eagle Crag, Borrowdale from the Langstrath Hotel
Skiddaw Courtesy of George Fishers but beware - what happens on Skiddaw does not necessarily mean the same happens in Borrowdale!
Bassenthwaite Looking up Bassenthwaite towards Keswick from Armathwaite Hall
Buttermere A view over the fields towards the fells on the south and west side of the valley
Raise Keswick Ski Club have a camera on their run on the east flank of Raise, just north of Helvellyn
Ullswater Ullswater Lake, looking towards Place Fell
Grasmere Pogu Pete's Grassmere webcam
Grasmere The view from the Grasmere Hostel
Coniston and Langdale Various views can be selected
Little Langdale View from the Three Shires Inn
Cumbria Webcams More Cumbria webcams

Other Useful Sites:

LDSAMRA The Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association is the umbrella body for the 13 mountain rescue teams in Cumbria (UK), and gives links to all those with websites. The Wasdale MRT site has useful information on the state of Lord's Rake
FRCC The Fell & Rock Climbing Club of the English Lake District produces a full set of Climbing Guidebooks for the Lakes. Its website features information on Bird Restrictions and Recent Developments (New Routes)
Carlisle MC Carlisle based climbing club (North Cumbria)
Eden Valley MC Penrith based climbing club (North Lakes)
Keswick MC Keswick based climbing club (North Lakes)
Kendal MC Kendal based climbing club (South Lakes)
Barrow Mountaineering & Ski Club Barrow in Furness based climbing and ski-ing club (South Lakes)
Cumbria Bolt Fund Donate here to help re-equip the area's sport climbs
Lakes Bloc Lake District Bouldering
LDNPA The Lake District National Park Authority website is a fund of useful information...
GoLakes .. as is the Cumbria Tourist Board website

Have you found a site not listed here that gives good Lake District climbing information? If so please let us know about it - email us – thank you!

Tourist: "Doesn't it ever do anything but rain here in the Lake District?"
Local: "Aye......... Sometimes it snaws."
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