MWIS - Mountain Weather Information Service

The Mountain Weather Information Service (MWIS) is a dedicated team of professional meteorologists with experience in mountaineering who produce forecasts for ten UK mountain areas 365 days a year.

MWIS weather forecasts contain detailed information aimed at novice and experienced mountain users. Their forecasts come largely in the form of warnings. Generally when there is little text, the conditions are fairly benign. The wording used indicates the impact of the weather on the user and particularly when there is the possibility of severe conditions they try to include this in the forecast as a probability even when the risk is low.

Mountain Weather Information Service

Daily mountain weather forecasts are available for The Northwest Highlands, West Highlands, Cairngorms National Park and Monadhliath, Southeastern Highlands and Southern Upland mountain regions in Scotland. In England and Wales, forecasts are available for the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales and North Pennines, Peak District, Snowdonia National Park and Brecon Beacons.

Set up in 2003 by Geoff Monk, MWIS was initially as a trial to understand what information was most relevant to mountain users all year round to aid their safety and enjoyment whilst in the hills. It quickly became clear that people wanted detailed but not overwhelming levels of information written in a language accessible to both professionals and inexperienced mountain users.

Since then MWIS has gained a loyal following from the mountain community. Over the years more forecast areas have been added to the service. The most recent upgrade introduced Pennine forecasts in 2019 and takes the total forecast regions to ten.

Funding from SportScotland, the national agency for sport in Scotland, along with sponsorship from organisations and individuals within the mountain community contribute to the running of the website, its day-to-day operations and the production of English and Welsh mountain weather forecasts.

MWIS forecasts receive over seven million hits every year and is an essential resource for anyone heading out into the mountains.

Checking the mountain weather forecast before your day out in the mountains is essential as is using a number of different resources. In addition to the MWIS forecast, we also recommend checking the Met Office Mountain Weather Forecasts.


If you’d like to learn more about mountain weather resources and understand how the weather can affect your mountain day, book yourself on one of our Hills Skills courses in the Peak District or Mountain Skills weekends in Snowdonia.

Mountain Weather Information Service (MWIS)