Walkers head towards south Wales's highest peak Pen y Fan in wintry conditions

A specialist weather service aimed at hillgoers has added a new area to its coverage.

The Mountain Weather Information Service is now carrying forecasts for the mountains of south Wales.

The addition of the Brecon Beacons and surrounding hills brings to nine the number of areas for which meteorological information is available.

Geoff Monk, who runs MWIS, said: “The Mountain Weather Information Service is pleased to announce the inclusion of forecasts for the mountains of south Wales.

“This is a long delayed addition to our service. As with other regions of England and Wales, although the focus will be on the Brecon Beacons and Black Mountains national park, we will include all higher summits in the southern half of Wales.”

MWIS forecasts are produced manually using information from a range of forecast models and forecasters’ knowledge of mountain weather. New forecasts, for the following three days are produced by 4.30pm daily, normally earlier in the winter.

The independent weather service already covers Snowdonia and north Wales, along with five areas in Scotland, for which it receives funding from sportscotland, plus the Lake District, Peak District and Yorkshire Dales.

The forecast for today in the Brecon Beacons is for a showery day with little wind, gradually improving with a chance of sunshine in the West. Thunder is possible on Friday and Saturday.

Forecasts can be seen on the Mountain Weather Information Service website.