Met Office confirms sunniest spring on record

Wales has had its sunniest spring on record, the Met Office has said.

Some 648 hours of sunshine were clocked between 1 March and 28 May – higher than the UK average.

Kathryn Chalk, a Met Office meteorologist, said the provisional figure beat the previous peak of 647 hours in 2020.

She added it would remain cloudy across Wales on Thursday and Friday, with “some brighter interludes likely on Saturday as we end spring”.

The UK as a whole has clocked 636.8 hours of sunshine in spring this year, beating the 626 hours set in 2020.

Wales joins Scotland and Ireland in setting new peaks but England has not yet set a new record, Ms Chalk said.

Met Office sunshine data goes back to 1910, and its figures for rainfall are also due to be published later this week.

They are likely to show the UK has experienced one of its driest springs, despite heavy downpours in some areas in recent days.

Wales has faced a huge number of wildfires this year, with March being the driest since 1944, according to Natural Resources Wales (NRW).

By the middle of April, Wales’ three fire services had responded to more than 1,300 grass fires, with charities warning some areas could take decades to recover from the destruction.

Last week, NRW moved the country into “prolonged dry weather” status, with many rivers reported to be “low or exceptionally low”.

Rhian Thomas, sustainable water and nature manager at NRW, said: “Such a dry start to the year is causing considerable concern for the health of our ecosystems and habitats, as well as for land management and the agricultural sector.”

She urged people and businesses to “use water wisely” to ensure water can continue to be supplied without damaging the environment.