Hi Bulb Buddies!

I hope you all enjoyed the first month of 2026 and have continued to collect your weather data since returning to school! Lots of exciting things took place in January, such as our ‘Name a Daffodil’ Competition, and two of our new Virtual Workshops. Thank you to all schools who took part in any of these activities, we really appreciate your support. If you are interested in catching our last two Virtual Workshops, you can still book a space here: Spring Bulbs for Schools Virtual Workshops | Museum Wales. Our ‘Name a Daffodil’ Competition is now officially closed, so keep an eye out for the name-reveal soon!

Let’s take a look at what kinds of weather January brought us:

January began as a particularly cold month with many experiencing frost, ice and snow across areas of the UK, with Scotland seeing ‘extensive’ snowfall reported by the Met Office. 

Storm Goretti then brought damaging winds particularly in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, causing the first red wind warning for 2026! It also brought snow across areas in Wales, the West Midlands and the South Pennines.

Later into the month, weather became wet and windy due to further recorded storms, Storm Ingrid and Storm Chandra, bringing heavy rain and strong winds. Some areas of Somerset and Devon have experienced flooding too. This rain made its way to Northern Ireland, where the Met Office mentioned some of the heaviest monthly rainfall totals were recorded.

Many of these temperature and weather observations were logged in your comments and data uploads, so let’s look at what you experienced!

Weather and Temperature Observations:

Ysgol Pentreychaf:

Pentreuchaf wedi cael ychydig o eira dydd Llun wythnos yma

Henllys Church in Wales School

Snow, ice wind, rain , storms and sunshine A mixture of weather this week .

Langbank Primary School

It snowed here on Thursday. Our rain gauge was frozen so we had to melt the ice to find the volume of water

St John's Primary School

We were just back to school from the Christmas break. The water in the jug was quite a lot but we think it was because the snow had melted. It was very icy and cold this week coming to school.

Henllys Church in Wales School

Less rain means more playtime

Lammack Primary School

Snow and ice on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Some of our pots were vandalised during the Christmas holidays but we have collected most of the bulbs and will replant them as soon as we can.

Greenburn ASN School

At start of week, we were on an Amber alert for severe weather so not safe for the children to go out to take measurements

Henllys Church in Wales School

it is not as cold as it has been

Pil Primary School

It was very cold this week.

St John's Primary School

There was lots of rain this week. Some schools were closed on Tuesday as there was a storm, but our school was open.

Pil Primary School

It has been very wet this week.

Professor Plant:

Thank you so much for uploading your brilliant comments and including details that can help us learn more about how different areas of the UK have been affected by weather! It looks like many of you experienced the cold and snowy weather, with Langbank Primary School having to wait for their rain gauge to unfreeze before taking a reading!

Well done Lammack Primary School for continuing to collect data even when your pots were vandalised over the holidays, we really appreciate the effort you are putting in to replant your bulbs.

The weather has been particularly damaging this month, Greenburn ASN School, so we totally agree that safety comes first! Thank you for still taking the time to add this to your comments!

Bulb Updates:

Llanmartin Primary School

Bulb growth now 8.5cm

Mountain Lane School

Lots of shoots appearing for the bulbs A miserable drizzly week.

Langbank Primary School

Most of the bulbs that we planted in the ground are coming through now

We can see shoots from most of the daffodil bulbs in our pots now. Nearly all the bulbs in the ground ar growing and are about 6cm tall. There are no signs of the mystery bulbs and the crocus bulbs yet

Ysgol Gynradd Llandegfan

Mae ein bylbiau dirgel wedi dechrau tyfu.

Professor Plant:

It is amazing to hear that more schools have began to see growth in their bulbs. Keep checking to see how they change over February, you may start to see some flower!

Information on how to identify if your plants have flowered can be found on the website here: Step 5: Keeping flower records (January - March) | Museum Wales, as it can be tricky to know when the right time is to document the official flowering date.

You may find that some of your plants aren’t ready to flower yet, so please don’t worry if you do not have data to input so far! The best thing to do is to continue monitoring your plants in the meantime to spot any changes.

School closures!

Mountain Lane School

No results from Monday due to school being closed because of the snow. Lots of snow and on Thursday evening and rain night - we thought wed be closed but it was just slushy because of the temperature

Rhayader Primary

No records on Monday, Tuesday, Friday, due to INSET and 2 days of snow, so no school.

Ysgol Gymraeg Morswyn

Ysgol ar gau oherwydd rhai staff methu cael i mewn oherwydd eira ochr arall ir ynys. Dim eira yng Nghaergybi.

Plasnewydd Primary

School was closed on Monday and Tuesday because of snow.

Ysgol Gynradd Llandegfan

Oherwydd eira nid oedd yr ysgol yn agored ar y 5ed ar 6ed. Roedd wedi toddi erbyn y 7fed.

Professor Plant:

Don’t worry if your school had closed and no data could be collected; your safety comes first! I hope you have all returned to school by now, and are settling back in.

Thank you for your hard work uploading these comments despite the weather!

Well done again Bulb Buddies for your hard work over the last few months, you should be very proud of yourselves! Keep it up, and we will see what February brings us next!

Professor Plant

To celebrate 20 years of the Spring Bulbs for Schools Project we are hosting four virtual workshops that will explore painting, climate change, the industrial revolution, and much more!

English: Book your ticket

Welsh: Book your ticket

Hi Bulb Buddies – Happy 2026!

Well done for continuing to log your data last month before your break, it has been great to read your comments and observations about what kind of weather you had coming into December. I have also read lots of comments logging that you are starting to see your bulbs growing – amazing!

Overall December was wet and windy, but mostly mild for usual UK weather, with temperatures getting colder at the end of the month. 

We had Storm Bram passing closely around the 8^th of December, bringing strong winds and heavy rain to northern Scotland, Northern Ireland and parts of Wales. This resulted in flooding, power outage and road closures in many areas, as reported on by the Met Office.

Once Storm Bram had passed, the weather began to change for the last 10 or so days of December, when it became dryer, but colder.

The colder temperatures have carried on into 2026, with some snow and ice warnings, and some school closures! I am interested to read your comments on these colder temperatures as January continues.

Let’s look at some of your comments from last month!

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Temperature and Weather observations:

Henllys Church in Wales School:

This week was a rainy and cold week

Irvinestown Primary School:

We had so much heavy rain on Friday that we didn’t get outside to play and we were very sad

Ysgol Pentreuchaf:

Mae wedi bwrw glaw mawr yma wythnos yma ond tydi hi ddim yn oer yma.

Professor Plant:

Well done for adding these details to your data – even when you weren’t able to go outside to play! It is important to notice the changes in weather and temperature, and to consider how this might affect your bulbs. The rain and mild weather might mean that the bulbs could flower a bit earlier than expected!

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Plant Growth!

Gavinburn Primary School:

We have attached a photo of our bulbs which are beginning to peek through the soil. We've seen lots of roots underneath too!

Cornist Park C.P:

It has been very cold this week. We had lots of rain in the middle of the week. We are beginning to get very excited because our first spring bulbs have started to come through the soil.

Mountain Lane School:

Green growth noticed in our bulb planters.

Pil Primary School:

-It has been cold this week. Our spring bulbs are shotting up.

-It has been raining a lot this week. We like checking the rainfall and temperature.

Llanmartin Primary School:

Our bulbs are starting to grow, approximately 1.5cm of growth.

Professor Plant:

Wow! How exciting that you are reporting seeing your bulbs grow! Well done for logging this and keeping watch over your plants. Over the next couple of months, you may be able to start logging your flowering data, if you notice any flowers opening!

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How is the project going?

Pinehurst Primary School:

We love going and checking our data every day.

Professor Plant:

I am so glad to hear that you are enjoying collecting data! Your observations are very valuable, so keep up the brilliant work. Great job!

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I have loved reading through your data and observations over December. Keep up the amazing work Bulb Buddies, I look forward to seeing what happens next over January!

Professor Plant

Hi Bulb Buddies,

I would like to say a huge thank you to all schools who have been uploading their weather data to the website so far! There has been very mixed weather this November, so it is interesting to see what you have all logged.

The MET Office has noted that November 2025 has brought very variable weather across the UK, with higher-than-average rainfall. This month the UK rainfall was 31% above average for November, making it the wettest month of 2025 so far!

This November Storm Claudia brought heavy rainfall, especially to England and Wales, with the MET Office reporting that the Midlands, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire saw more than double their average November rainfall. This rainfall resulted in flooding and disruption in some areas, which is reflected in your comments!

The temperature this November was also varied, where the month began warmer than usual but very quickly dropped in temperature during the second half of the month. Many schools have mentioned this change in their comments, with some seeing frost and short bursts of snow!

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Many Bulb Buddies have made some great weather observations:

Church Cowley St James CE Primary

Bitter cold week but glorious sunshine on Friday.

Church Cowley St James CE Primary

14/11/25 - Storm Claudia yn cychwyn

Cornist Park C.P

The start of the week began really mild. As the week has gone on the rain has become more persistent resulting in 12mm of rainfall while we were in school on Friday.

Mary Immaculate R.C. School

On Tuesday 4th November we had really heavy rain. Resulting in our playground flooding and lots of children and staff struggling to get home after school One of our teachers in Tenby had no water in her house for the evening.

Pil Primary School

There has been a lot of rain this week.

Professor Plant:

It is great to see so much detail in your comments, noting how much the weather has changed in just one week. The rainfall over November has been great for helping your bulbs grow!

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You have also been commenting on changes in the temperature:

Pil Primary School

It has been very cold this week, and we have had hardly any rainfall.

St John's Primary School

Light snow and frost on Wednesday Thursday

Irvinestown Primary School

We had lots of ice this week and it was very cold There was even a little bit of snow

Gavinburn Primary School

Very cold week

St Peter's CE Primary School

A flurry of snow fell for 10 minutes today

Ysgol Pentreuchaf

Y tywydd wedi oeri lot wythnos yma.

Professor Plant:

We have even had some Bulb Buddies reporting on some plant growth already:

Rhayader Primary

Our mystery bulbs have started growing, as have some of our other pots.

St Patrick's RC Primary - Newport

The temperature dropped immensely over the weekend. We also have begun to see early growth in our crocus plants.

Professor Plant:

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I have loved reading through your comments and observations and seeing all of your data being uploaded. Keep up the amazing work Bulb Buddies, and I look forward to seeing what happens next over December!

Professor Plant

To celebrate 20 years of the Spring Bulbs for Schools Project we are hosting four virtual workshops that will explore painting, climate change, the industrial revolution, and much more!

English: Book your ticket

Welsh: Book your ticket