Snow showers and wind Thursday. Improving overhead into Easter weeend.
Glencoe and the Lecht look to have had the most new snowfall on Wednesday. Strong and gusty E to SE winds on Thursday with some uncertainty about peak speeds and timing, check AM updates.
If you have been out on the slopes please send us photos to snow24 at winterhighland dot info.
All the snowsports areas have seen new snow fall during Wednesday, with Glencoe and the Lecht catching the most at around 5 to 6 inches and 4 to 5 inches respectively. Snow fell most of the day at Glencoe Mountain Resort and the forecast brighter spells for the afternoon didn't reach as clusters of snow showers merged into a more prolonged period of heavier snowfall.
More bands of showers should move through the snowsports areas bringing further mountain snow later this evening. At update the A93 Cairnwell and A939 Lecht Pass were open, while the CairnGorm Ski Road was closed at the Glenmore Gates. Wind speeds will freshen into the night bringing drifting of this afternoons fairly uniform snowfall. The freezing level will be around the lower slopes overnight, and the exact freezing level will be factor in whether much redistribution of snow takes place for example at the Plateau at Glencoe or whether drifting causes any issues on the East Coast access roads.
On Wednesday only Glencoe was offering any main run terrain.With the further snowfalls the Plateau and mid mountain runs have improved further, though it is still pretty typical early season type conditions with relatively unconsolidated baseless snow, becoming skier packed in more trafficked areas. With the Plateau runs now all skiable, on Wed afternoon it was possible once again to ski back to the Plateau Poma on snow from Rankins Return, the Low Road and the Access Return, meaning there is now options for intermediates.
Main Basin has been riding beautifully in recent days and is in the best shape of the season so far. With more snow tonight on an Easterly wind it is anticipated that the Rannoch Button uptrack should mellow further, but it is unlikely to be groomable so the upper mountain remains only suitable for confident red run riders and above.
For those looking to go sledging the sledge park at the Plateau Cafe is in excellent condition and it is recommended you arrive no later than 2.30pm to go sledging.
CairnGorm is due to reopen on Thursday, enough snow has fallen with some drifting into the Gunbarrel to improve the route back to the M1 Poma and it should be able to ski on again. What effect the wind has overnight will depend on direction, strong SE winds should help improve the Gunbarrel for example. Check updates AM for road and wind info. As of dusk a walk was still required to the M1 Poma.
At the Lecht the Robin and Wren magic carpets reopened on Wednesday, benefiting from the new snow on a machine made base on the Wren. Main runs are beginning to fill in, whether drifting helps overnight remains to be seen, but at dusk there was not enough snow to expand the open terrain beyond the nursery slopes.
Glenshee is closed on Thursday and will reopen the machine made snow area on the nursery slopes and Plastic Slope Poma run on Friday. Currently only a light covering of fresh, so considerably more new snow would be required to open additional terrain.
There was a light dusting of snow across the clubfields, but this has largely melted during Wednesday afternoon and all are still waiting for new snowfall.
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/ .
Lowther Hills Ski Club will not operate the Lowther Hill Tow this season, however the summit webcam is in operation and will allow prospective tourers to view snow conditions on the fenced runs near the summit and the wider hillside with views down to Wanlockhead in clear weather.
At 6pm in the West at the base of Glencoe at 366m the temperature was +1.6°c, while near the summit at 1097m it was -1.2°c with a Southerly at 8 gusting 22mph. The Met Office Summit Run AWS on Aonach Mor (1130m) reported -1.7°c with a SSE wind at 18 gusting 29mph.
CairnGorm Met Office Summit AWS (408ft/1245m) was at -2.6°c with a SSE wind at 26 gusting 37mph. The Cairnwell AWS reported -0.1°c at 3061ft, with a SSE wind at a mean of 26 gusting 38mph!
Get an early weather check with our webcams from shortly after 5.30am at present.
As we have been saying, keep a close eye on the weather as day to day detail is likely to chop and change even though the general pattern is set.
A low pressure system deepening to the South of Ireland will bring swathes of strong winds across the British Isles, the worst of these are expected to now miss Highland Scotland but there will still be fairly strong and gusty winds on Thursday. Hopefully once this low has fully developed the detail for Easter Weekend should settle down a bit!
There has been quite a bit of uncertainty about strength of wind, exact direction and timing of the strongest winds for Thursday. At update it looks more likely that there will be a double peak of wind pre-dawn then into the afternoon, speeds may moderate for a time post dawn, but this will be relative and the direction during the morning being SE could mean speeds are high enough to cause issues for CairnGorm and Nevis. If the direction is SE, Glencoe should fair better.
Areas of mountain snowfall moving around the low, with the best chance of brighter spells towards the West and NW Highlands given the E to SE flow. Around 0 to -1°c at Munro Level.
Heading into Easter weekend it looks as if we will be in a fairly slack pressure pattern as low pressure fills in situ, so a mix of developing brighter spells and some snow showers still around looks fairly likely. Probably around or just above freezing at Munro Level, but tending to drop a degree or so in convective showers. Southerly winds around 20 gusting 30mph, but gusts 45 to 50mph possible on Northern downslopes around the Cairngorms Plateaux.
Possibly by Saturday snow showers will start to fizzle out and become more restricted to the South and SE Highlands, with brighter spells developing towards the North of the main ranges with a moderating Southerly breeze. FL around the higher Munros, with Munro Level temperature likely to be between 0 and 2°c, tending to rise in clearer spells and drop in convective snow showers. A small risk of showers turning Thundery in the afternoon on Friday and Saturday, more likely where clearer spells develop between showers to help drive convection in the fairly unstable air. Squally gusty winds around the bigger shower cells.
Early indications for Easter Day suggest it will be the best day of the holiday weekend, largely if not completely dry with improving chance of decent sunny spells. However this could change for better or worse, given recent uncertainty.
Lowther Hill: Leadhills village camera at the Hopetoun Arms is online 24 hours a day. Lowther Hill Summit webcam is online from about 9am to dusk, but may go offline earlier on dull days as it is off the grid.
GLENCOE: All webcams are online and the first updated images will be from round 5.30am for an early weather check. Summit AWS is back online with temperature and wind speed.