•England Club Fields

•Mountain Weather

•Mountain Forecast Discussion

•Webcams and Weather Stations

At update all East Coast access roads are closed. Strongest winds of the night will occur around dawn, so there could be delays with opening on CairnGorm and with the A93 Cairnwell Pass which is closed overnight. The A939 Lecht Pass remained closed and requires substantial digging out.

Check updates AM and beware of increased ice risk tomorrow morning after fluctuating temperatures on Tuesday.

If you have been out on slopes please send photos to the email at the foot of this page!

A change to the recent sustained Northerly pattern as a low pressure system swept fronts through Highland Scotland on Tuesday. Finally some more significant snowfall for Glencoe, but also a messy afternoon with rain for a time to around the top of the Rannoch Chair, while further North and East snow fell to below the lower slopes all day. Strengthening wind forced an early close to the Glencoe Access Chair on Tuesday afternoon, and the resultant drifting across the Ski Road from the freshening wind also brought an early end to play on CairnGorm.

The top of the Access Chair and CIC Hut on Ben Nevis are at similar elevations, but the CIC Hut was only above freezing for 5 hours with a high of +1.7°c, while the Top of the Access Chair was above 0 for nearly 10 hours with a high of +2.3°c. Overall it looks as if Nevis Range has seen the most new snow today, upper levels look from the radar data to have collected somewhere between 16 and 20cm of new snow. The Coe has seen around 8 to 10cm.

Snow continued to fall to the level of the snowgates at Cock Bridge and both sides of the A93 Cairnwell Pass through the afternoon. It looks as if the Eastern Areas have picked up somewhere between 12 and 18cm, with Glenshee looking like it caught the most.

The strengthening wind in the afternoon means there has been substantial drifting and the wind has veered from South round to NW, so there will have been substantial redistribution of lying snow as well (though drifting on the lower to mid mountain level in the West was dampened down by the rise in freezing level).

At update all the East Coast Access Roads were shut and there may well be some delay on CairnGorm and at Glenshee in the morning as wind speeds are forecast to peak around or shortly after dawn, before moderating quite substantially. Exactly where has gained and how much will need to be assessed as first light comes in. It will be unlikely the A939 Lecht Pass will open on Wednesday as substantial digging out / blowing out is required as it is well beyond ploughing. Both the A939 and A944 are barely single track in places at lower elevations in Strathdon where there has been sustained drifting.

CairnGorm can hopefully return to Top to Daylodge riding giving 1650ft of vertical descent from the Ptarmigan Tow to the top Daylodge Bridge for return to the Base Station, with the Funicular providing uplift below the Top Basin. The lower slopes had been closed with mid station stops on Monday due to bare areas from heavy ski traffic. The changing wind direction on Tuesday should have benefited many of the fenced runs mid mountain.

Overall the Lecht has probably seen the most snow of the snowsports areas and nearly all runs are filling in well. Machines have been packing down snow and dozing drifts to allow the fences to catch more snow. Once storm recovery work is complete and access restored the Lecht should be in very good shape.

Hopefully the variable wind and frontal snow rather than showers from the North will have put enough snow into where it is needed that Glenshee can expand its open terrain in the coming days. So far Glenshee has been limited to the shorter road side lifts on the Cairnwell side on machine made snow.

At Glencoe, the Sledge Park is now open daily (wind permitting). It is advisable to arrive before 2pm at the latest for sledging to get a decent amount of time on the hill. First chair up at 9am, last chair up at 3.45pm and last chair down at 4pm.

While Glencoe did catch a reasonable bit of snow, it had more exposure to the occluding warm sector on Tuesday, coupled with the past few days there is now significantly more snow on Aonach Mor than Meall a Bhuiridh. No further comment on the subject of Nevis Range is required, except to remind mountain goers that all facilities at Nevis Range are now closed until further notice.

:: England Club Fields

The three Pennine Clubfields all enjoyed a November start to their season, with Allenheads and Weardale notching up the first lift-served UK snow turns of the season. The English Clubfields have so far missed out on any meaningful snow from this cold spell. There is a chance of some snow later in the week, but with the end of week low pressure now set to track across the far south of England or even the Channel, it looks more likely to be showers than significant frontal snow.

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 8pm in the West at the Glencoe SSC hut at 850m the mid mountain temperature was -2.8°c, wind at 25 gusting 50mph. At Base level (366m) it was +1.9°c.

The SAIS summit AWS on Aonach Mor was reporting -4.8°c. The Met Office station was reporting a North West wind at 17 gusting 27mph. It was -1.5°c at 680m at the CIC Hut. At Tulloch Station (237m) the temperature was +1.8°c.

In the East the CairnGorm the Met Office Summit AWS reported -5.0°c with a North Westerly at a mean of 37 gusting 47mph. Aviemore was at +0.2°c at 8pm.

The Met Office Cairnwell AWS (3061ft /934m) reported -4.1°c with a NW wind at a mean of 35 gusting 47mph.

:: Mountain Forecast Discussion

As mentioned above a change from the sustained Northerly flow as low pressure brought frontal systems through on Tuesday. The freezing level is now lowering again and ice could be a widespread problem on Wednesday morning, so take it extra canny on the roads!

Snow showers should clear from the West for a time on Wednesday, before more precipitation returns from the West late afternoon or into the evening. Strong North veering ENE for a time winds could be around 40 gusting 60mph plus through the dawn period, before moderating to generally be around 15 gusting 25 to 30mph late morning. Winds may lull for a time under a weak transient ridge for a period before SW winds freshen later into the evening from the West. Freezing from the glens up in most inland areas, Munro Level temperature around -4 to -5°c.

Thursday will see light snow showers in the West, while showers in the East will probably be limited to the Southern Cairngorms, while the Northern side of the Cairngorms has a mostly dry day with some bright or sunny spells, with only an occasional rare flurry. WSW or SW winds around 20 to 30mph, maybe 40mph Cairngorm Plateau early, will become lighter and variable. Minus 4 to -5°c at Munro Level.

There is now fairly good confidence that a deeper low pressure for the end of the week will be well to the South of Scotland. Though a shallower low may pass to the North of Scotland at the same time, the end of the week currently looks fairly benign for Highland Scotland, but keep a close eye on the forecasts as there is still quite a bit of uncertainty indicated in the ensembles.

At this early stage Saturday is perhaps the best day of the weekend as there is potential for strong SE winds to develop by Sunday. Keep a close eye on forecasts! While not good for those wanting to ski / ride on the days of strong SE winds, a period of SE winds while substantial deposits of loose redistributable snow lie on and to the south of plateau areas would be extremely good for the season ahead on CairnGorm.

:: Webcams and Weather Stations

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

GLENCOE: All mountain webcams online and the first updated images will be shortly after 8am. The mid mountain weather station wind vane failed due to nearby lightning. Windspeed and other parameters are OK.