I spent the 2023-24 school year working toward a master’s degree in Arthurian studies—and there’s only one place in the world where you can do that: Bangor, Wales.

Bangor is a terrific community and a place I was proud to call home. Like anywhere else in the world, it comes with its highs and lows. I’ve lived in more than a dozen cities across five US states, Wales, France, and England. For me, Bangor ranks near the top.

Although I love Bangor, it’s not always the easiest place to live. And there’s no escaping it: one of the top reasons is the weather. For a look on the sunnier side and all the good Bangor has to offer (and there’s plenty of that), check out my post from last week—and stay tuned for next week as I expand the list.

The Weather

I grew up in West Michigan, a region of the Great Lakes along the Lake Michigan coast roughly the same size as Wales. It’s heaven by summer, and, while maybe not quite hell by winter, it’s indisputably long, cold, and grey.

Wales will be a piece of cake, right? Wrong. 

The thing about living in Michigan is that there’s a payoff. We have long, brutal winters, but when spring finally does arrive, it’s beautiful and you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world.

I think there’s a sort of balance to the weather in Michigan. For every day when it’s -10C/15F, there’s going to be a magnificently pleasant sunny summer day on the other end of that cold, dark tunnel. The weather doesn’t swing to quite the same extremes as somewhere like the Great Plains, but you still see significant contrast from one day to the next—even one hour to the next. 

If Welsh weather is a game of equilibrium, it’s one that stays much closer to the center and, once you learn to deal with it, it’s sort of just fine. You make do with it and find yourself saying, “Oh, it’s actually not too bad out today.”

Even well into June when the sun sets at nearly 10 o’clock, it still feels like early spring most days in Bangor, with constantly cool temperatures, plentiful clouds, and mist, wind, and rain never too far away.

Welsh Winters

It doesn’t get extremely cold on the Welsh coast. There’s plenty of rain and wind, but it’s rarely cold enough to snow. And what’s lovely is that everything stays so green. Flowers continue to bloom through the winter, lush moss covers every surface it can find, many trees keep their leaves until December and others, like pines and holly, keep Bangor’s coastal valley green all winter long.

Remarkably (or perhaps worryingly?), I noticed that daffodils start coming out as early as January!

But there’s an inescapable downside to living this far north. It may not get cold, but it sure stays dark. At the winter solstice, the sun sets just before 4 o’clock making for long, dark evenings that string together in oppressive succession one after the next. My husband and I found ourselves anxiously checking our weather apps to see how many minutes we could add on to the end of each day.

Truthfully, the only way I know how to survive that kind of darkness is to find some way to stay busy. As a master’s student, that happened pretty naturally. Otherwise, I think the key to getting through those long winter months is to make plans—to spend time with friends, travel, go to shows. If we were to stay another winter, we would probably spend the holidays in southern France or Spain for a little sanity. Even being in the city is preferable that time of year where the bustle and activity can help sustain you.

That point leads me to #2 on my list of “the bad” of living in Bangor, which I’ll post here in two weeks. Check back next week for a #2 on my list of the best of Bangor.