Pokémon Sword and Shield: How to Change the Weather

Earlier this month, Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield players learned that an emphatic set of DLCs are coming via an expansion pass this year. 

While the news of an expanding Pokédex is, of course, welcomed, it does mean that players will want to complete the existing Galar Dex before the huge expansions come into the games. 

Roaming around the Wild Area each day, you’ll notice that weather conditions don’t just impact battles anymore. In Pokemon Sword and Shield, the weather dictates which Pokemon spawn in certain areas of the Wild Area. 

As the general weather per area only changes each day, it can be a tedious process of waiting to open the game and luck into the right day of weather to find the Pokemon that you want to catch. 

Luckily, there is a sneaky little way for you to change the weather in Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield.

Changing the weather greatly speeds up the process of filling your Pokédex, and it also means that you can target some of the best and strongest Pokémon in the games. 

Here, you’ll find out how to change the weather, how to change to specific weather types, and some of the best Pokémon to find in each type of weather in Sword and Shield.

Changing the weather in Sword and Shield

To change the weather in Pokémon Sword and Shield, follow these simple steps: 

• Save your Pokémon Sword or Pokémon Shield game, press the ‘Home’ button to return to the Nintendo Switch home screen.
• Press ‘X’ on the Pokémon Sword or Pokémon Shield tile and close the game.
• Go to the bottom bar and over to System Settings, and then press ‘A’ to enter. 
• In System Settings, scroll all the way down the left-hand side to the System option, and then press ‘A’.
• Within the System menu, select Date and Time by hovering over the option and pressing ‘A’.

• Here, you’ll see that the option to ‘Synchronise Clock via Internet’ is switched to ‘On.’ Press ‘A’ here to unlock the option to change the Date and Time setting. If you’re offline, you can go down to Date and Time straight away.

• Go down to the Date and Time option and change the date to the day and month of your choice to get different weather conditions in the Wild Area. 
• Once you’ve changed the date, back out of the settings menus and get back into the game.

Going through these motions to find your desired weather conditions each time is a tedious process, but thankfully a fellow Pokémon Sword and Shield player has found the perfect dates for each weather condition. 

How to get one weather condition across all of the Wild Area

Discovered by Austin John Plays, there are specific dates that you can put into your Nintendo Switch that will cause the weather across the whole Wild Area to be the same. 

While some of these weather conditions are locked to certain stages of progression in the game (listed below), these are the dates to put in to guarantee one weather condition all over the Wild Area: 

• 1 May 2020: Normal Weather
• 1 July 2020: Sunny Weather
• 1 March 2020: Overcast Weather
• 1 October 2020: Raining
• 1 November 2020: Thunderstorms
• 1 June 2020: Foggy Weather
• 1 April 2020: Sandstorms
• 1 February 2020: Hailing
• 1 December 2020: Snowing

In Pokémon Sword and Shield, the weather conditions of Snowstorms and Sandstorms will not occur until you have defeated the first three Gym Leaders in the game. To unlock the foggy weather conditions, you’ll need to defeat Leon and become the Champion of Galar. 

Now that you know how to change the weather in Sword and Shield as well as what dates yield certain weather types, all that’s left to do is go out and catch the Pokémon. 

Weather Conditions to target for the best Pokémon in the Wild Area

In the Wild Area, the Lake of Outrage has become famous for the quality of Pokémon which spawn in the area. Most of the very best Pokémon at the Lake of Outrage can only be found in this area and have very low spawn rates in incredibly specific weather conditions. 

So, if you want to catch some of the best Pokémon in Sword and Shield, consult the table below to see which weather conditions you need and how you need to search for the Pokémon at the Lake of Outrage. 

Now you know some of the best Pokémon to target in the Lake of Outrage when you change the weather in Pokémon Sword and Shield. While you’ll need to do some trading to complete your Galar Dex, changing the weather will help you to catch many of the Pokémon that your missing quickly.

Want to evolve your Pokemon?

Pokémon Sword and Shield: How to Evolve Linoone into No. 33 Obstagoon

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Pokémon Sword and Shield: How to Evolve Piloswine into No. 77 Mamoswine

Pokémon Sword and Shield: How to Evolve Nincada into No. 106 Shedinja

Pokémon Sword and Shield: How to Evolve Tyrogue into No.108 Hitmonlee, No.109 Hitmonchan, No.110 Hitmontop

Pokémon Sword and Shield: How to Evolve Pancham into No. 112 Pangoro

Pokémon Sword and Shield: How to Evolve Milcery into No. 186 Alcremie

Pokémon Sword and Shield: How to Evolve Farfetch’d into No. 219 Sirfetch’d

Pokémon Sword and Shield: How to Evolve Inkay into No. 291 Malamar

Pokémon Sword and Shield: How to Evolve Riolu into No.299 Lucario

Pokémon Sword and Shield: How to Evolve Yamask into No. 328 Runerigus

Pokémon Sword and Shield: How to Evolve Sinistea into No. 336 Polteageist

Pokémon Sword and Shield: How to Evolve Snom into No.350 Frosmoth

Pokémon Sword and Shield: How to Evolve Sliggoo into No.391 Goodra

Looking for more Pokemon Sword and Shield Guides?

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Pokémon Sword and Shield: How to Ride on Water

How to Get Gigantamax Snorlax in Pokémon Sword and Shield

Pokémon Sword and Shield: How to Get Charmander and Gigantamax Charizard

Pokémon Sword and Shield: Legendary Pokémon and Master Ball Guide