•Glencoe Sledge Park

•England Club Fields

•Mountain Weather

•Mountain Forecast Discussion

•Webcams and Weather Stations

CairnGorm Mountain and Glencoe are open daily for snowsports - weather permitting. Uplift very unlikely today other than maybe the Funicular at CairnGorm - which will be reviewed at 10am.

Been out on the slopes - please send us your photos to the email address at the foot of this page.

CairnGorm will review snowsports and funicular operation at 10am, but wind has increased to Hurricane Force at the top with gusts now over 100mph at the CairnGorm Summit Weather Station. At 8am the summit was at -2.1 with South Westerly at 76 gusting 103mph.

Blizzard conditions from the Plateau up at Glencoe, means most of the webcam views are currently obscured by driving snow. Gains this morning more substantial from part of the way up the Plateau. SSW winds not fully hitting the top of the Rannoch Chair (and coming from behind the camera), but the Top of the Access is getting hit significantly harder at the moment, with gusting 50mph at 1200ft in the car park at present with heavy rain at moor level. Even if the wind behaved enough that the chair could run it would be pretty horrific ride facing into driving sleet much of the way up!

Hopefully the temperature does not nudge up much in the next few hours as the Plateau and mid mountain at Glencoe are filling in quite nicely at the moment.


Saturday Evening Update

Brief lulls between convective snow showers gave glimmers of hope that things were calming down at Glencoe on Saturday morning, but then as the next shower drew near the wind went ballistic again! Thus not even the Access Chair was able to run on Saturday, which puts the prospects for uplift in the West for snowsports on Sunday pretty much at nil, given the forecast for even stronger winds.

The better news from the West was the wind was accompanied by significant fall of new snow over the past 24 hours. Radar data indicates somewhere between 16 and 20cm of actual snowfall, but windward slopes are scoured completely, while other sports have big drifts. Mid and Plateau level runs were continuing to fill in on Saturday afternoon, with further snow and wind due overnight into Sunday and through Monday. Uplift also looks doubtful on Monday unless forecast changes, and Tuesday looks a bit meh with a drizzly milder day, before Wednesday teases with the possibility of further snow, this time in lighter winds.

So for Glencoe it really is a case of watching and waiting to see just what mother nature delivers to the mountain for the end of March. Hopefully when the weather settles down at least some of the mid mountain and Plateau trails will be complete again. Perhaps even the Wall T-bar might finally be able to make a belated season debut in early April, having missed out on the early season snow that came predominantly from the SE! Check reports in the morning before travelling or at least on route over the next couple of days whether planning a sledging or snowsports trip to minimise wasted travel, as the forecasts need to be quite wrong on detail for even the Access Chair to run.

CairnGorm has also seen new snow, though not as much as in the West, radar data suggesting somewhere in the region of 6 to 9cm. But the wind though touching Storm Force on the summit and keeping the Top Basin firmly shut, was not quite as aggressive mid mountain as it was at Glencoe, which allowed both the Funicular and the M1 Poma to provide snowsports uplift. Alas the forecast wind speeds are higher for Sunday and it is very unlikely any of the surface uplift will run, except perhaps the Ptarmigan Tow if wind direction keeps in the lee of the summit itself. That might be a mute point as the Funicular itself is looking marginal at best for Sunday, so keep a close eye on AM updates.

If the Funicular can run on Sunday that will provide a mix of green / blue and red terrain directly from it. The White Lady (red) remaining full width over its full length for more experienced skiers and riders. The Traverse down into Coire Cas is loaded, but it might be easier to ski up it on Sunday. The Gunbarrel and the top legs of the Zig Zags are also good, but the main bed of Coire Cas itself is narrow in places, a typical symptom of seasons where East / SE winds have dominated snowfall! The Cas Tow has been closed recently to provide more space for coming down, but the upper Cas was beginning to fill out a bit more again.

Glenshee and the Lecht are currently closed for snowsports. Indeed it is likely Glenshee is now closed for the season, it is much less likely to come back as we approach and move into April, whereas the Lecht can and has come from nothing to open in May! That said there is still scope for touring excursions around Glenshee with still areas of very deep snow on Meall Odhar, Glas Maol and the surrounding Munros.

At update the A939 Lecht Pass and the A93 Cairnwell Pass were open.

:: Glencoe Sledge Park

The Sledge Park is full length and in good shape thanks to snow making from the snow factory. There are over 150 sledges to grab at the Plateau Cafe! It is advisable to arrive before 2.30pm at the latest for sledging to get a decent amount of time on the hill. First chair up at 9am, the sledge park is always quietest before lunch time. Last chair down scheduled for 4.30pm. The Plateau Cafe is open daily when the Access Chair is running.

:: England Club Fields

All the club fields are waiting for new snow to be able to reopen.

For both Weardale and Allenheads, you need to join the club with a season pass, these are still available for both at this time.

Please check club access rules / availability if not a club member / pass holder.

Weardale: https: //skiweardale.com/ .
Allenheads: http://ski-allenheads.co.uk/ .
Yad Moss: https: //yadmoss.co.uk/ .
Raise: https: //www.ldscsnowski.co.uk/ .

:: Mountain Weather

At 6pm in the West at the Glencoe SSC hut (850m) the temperature was -2.1°c, no wind data is available. At the Top of the Access (671m) it was +0.1°c. At Base level (366m) it was +1.9°c with the wind at 9 gusting 32mph.

The SAIS summit AWS on Aonach Mor was reporting -4.2°c. The Met Office station was reporting a West wind at 12 gusting 24mph. At the CIC Hut (680m) it was -0.7°c. At Tulloch Station (237m) the temperature was +4.0°c.

In the East the summit weather stations on CairnGorm reported -4.9°c, with a Storm Force Westerly at a mean of 55 gusting 71mph. At Aviemore the temperature at 8pm was +3.9°c.

The Met Office Cairnwell AWS reported -2.7°c with a North West wind at a mean of 38 gusting 57mph.

:: Mountain Forecast Discussion

Weather conditions have eased into Saturday evening, but the snow will resume by the early hours of Sunday in the West, and it will be slightly less cold by then, so as the wind picks up further hopefully that snow will still stick!

Freezing level is expected to nudge up to around the higher tops briefly mid morning in the West. Leading up to that a period of heavy wet snow being driven down slope by the Storm Force SW backing SSW winds, before sleety wintery mix for a period after which the snow level lowers once more, as winds veer Westerly behind the cold front.

All in all severe mountain conditions and the period of wind driven wintry mix will be particularly unpleasant, there is a risk of hail with isolated thunder and lightning associated with the cold front. However, this should all help consolidate the recent drifted in snow and secure it in place, we might be approaching the second month of meteorological spring in a few days, but this should be a good base building storm cycle!

Minus 3 to -4°c at Munro Level for a time late Saturday evening, slowly creeping up to around -1 or 0°c post dawn (an hour later on Sunday!), peaking around 0 or +1°c mid morning before falling back to -2 to -3°c by late afternoon. There will be considerable drifting, temporarily dampened down during the less cold spell away from the highest tops, wind speeds look to be widely around 50 gusting 70 to 80mp on the Munros, mean speeds 60mph plus on higher tops and plateau areas in the Northern Cairngorms and through the Nevis Range, with a risk of mean speeds reaching 70mph plus for a time in the morning.

Monday looks set to continue a fairly stormy theme, while there will be some fluctuation in freezing level, with the FL rising to around Munro Level for a time. Further accumulation of new snowfall and very poor visibility in falling and blowing snow. Snow showers most frequent and heaviest in the West where they will merge into more persistent hill snow at times. Minus 2 rising 0°c at Munro Level, briefly dropping back before overnight the Munro Level temperature rises to +2 or 3°c in the early hours of Tuesday.

Tuesday looks a bit meh, still strong to gale winds, tending to be a bit murky on Western hills with drizzly conditions persisting through much of the day. Progressively drier with higher cloud bases to the East and further NE and SE in the Cairngorms might have some brighter interludes. Between +2 and +4°c at Munro Level.

By Wednesday colder air will have or will be returning, some model runs show a convergence zone along a cold front diagonally through the Central Highlands with SW winds to the SE side of the convergence and NE winds to the NW side. If this lands in the right place, it could potentially bring fairly slow moving and heavy mountain snowfall, a risk a narrow band of stronger winds running parallel to the front in each direction. Keep an eye on this forecast as it could also turn into a freshies day with relatively light winds!

:: Webcams and Weather Stations

Lowther Hill: Leadhills webcam is online (24/7).

GLENCOE: All mountain webcams online and the first updated images are shortly before 6.30am (BST). Sledge Park camera streams overnight. The mid mountain weather station wind direction is not working, other data valid.