This guide covers when Cardiff is wettest and driest, where flood warnings come from in Wales, what a storm does to the rest of a moving weekend, and how a wet move is run.
How wet Cardiff is, month by month
The Met Office station in Bute Park recorded an average of 1,203.28mm of rain a year over 1991 to 2020, on 153.39 days with at least 1mm. The wettest month is December at 139.58mm, with November, October and January not far behind. The driest is April at 72.07mm, and June has the fewest rain days at 10.37, just ahead of April at 10.73.
August is the surprise. At 104.82mm it is wetter than every month from February to July, so a late-summer move is not the safe bet it looks. If you can choose, April to July gives the best odds of a dry day. The Met Office publishes the full table on its Bute Park climate averages page.
- Driest month: April. Fewest rain days: June, then April.
- Wettest stretch: October to January, peaking in December.
- August is wetter than any month from February to July.
Flood warnings in Wales come from NRW
If heavy rain is forecast, the warnings for Cardiff come from Natural Resources Wales, not the service used in England. NRW issues flood alerts, flood warnings and severe flood warnings, runs a 24-hour Floodline on 0345 988 1188, and the service is free. It covers around 90% of the properties at risk of flooding from rivers or the sea in Wales.
What it does not cover matters on moving day. NRW says it does not warn for flooding from surface water or small watercourses, which is the kind that fills a street after a downpour. So a clear NRW map does not mean a dry kerb outside the new house. Sign-up details are on NRW's flood warnings page.
Storms close more than the roads
A big storm changes the rest of the weekend as well. When Storm Darragh arrived in December 2024, Cardiff Council closed its household waste recycling centres on the Saturday and Sunday and suspended Saturday collections. Anyone who had planned to clear out the old house on that weekend had nowhere to take it.
If a named storm is forecast for your moving weekend, assume the tip may shut and plan for the rubbish to go another way. A clearance in our van does not depend on the recycling centre being open that day. For buyers near the coast, the council's coastal flood scheme, started in October 2024, is due to protect 1,116 homes and 72 other properties when it finishes by September 2028.
Running a wet move
Rain changes the order of a move more than its length. Floors at both ends are covered before anything moves, mattresses and upholstery go into covers in the bedroom rather than on the doorstep, and the van is loaded straight from the door so nothing waits outside. Electricals go in early and deep, away from the doors.
On our house removals a wet day is planned the same way as a dry one, with the van as close to the door as the street allows. Tell us if the new place has a long path or steps, because that is the part of a Cardiff move where the rain gets in.
Last checked: October 2026.