spindrift1980

This one was taken last Saturday (5 May) and shows Ben Avon in the eastern Cairngorms (1171m). Viewed from a distance yesterday, it seemed to have gained more snow cover in the last week or so.

A couple of recent photos I have taken which show the snow cover in the eastern Highlands. A distant Lochnagar viewed yesterday (Saturday 12 May) across the plateau east of Glen Clova. Lochnagar is 1155m asl, the plateau in the foreground about 800m-850m (most of the ground at this altitude actually had more snow cover than this area, which is quite wind-scoured).

Good snow cover above 900m in the eastern Cairngorms (Ben Avon), Saturday 5th May 2012:

Some quite large falls of snow in the West Highlands. 8-14 inches (level, with light winds meaning not much drifting) being reported at Glencoe Ski Centre

Chucking down flakes at a fair old rate here in East Kilbride - a few cm. wet snow on the grass only though. Down in Motherwell it was just melting straight into the ground. Some great scenes up north though, looking at the webcams and photos here - hopefully there'll still be a decent amount left on the hills come the Easter weekend. Aviemore looking good!

Here's one I took last Saturday of a very calm loch acting like a mirror (before the sun came through the murk!)

Would be delighted to see more snow, even if only on the high hills. The amount of remaining snow in the Highlands is more like May than March at the moment, and it doesn't feel quite right.

A low of -8.5C for Braemar on Sunday, according to the MetO - quite respectable for mid-March!

There have been some short intense snow showers here in EK at just under 500ft but nothing sticking.

Glencoe webcams are looking not bad (although Met Office seem to take little interest in mountain weather so I suppose they probably meant lower hills):

Heavy wet snow shower in EK too.

I can vouch for there being plenty of snow in the Southern Uplands. A couple of photos from today on Broad Law, near Moffat: Today was an example of the best March weather Scotland can offer - plenty of snaw and a bit of sunshine (eventually)! Snow above about 250m in the morning, but melting at lower levels and fast disappearing below 450m or so when the sun appeared in the afternoon.

New Met Office warning for upland snow in a lot of eastern Scotland - Fife snow shield remains firmly in place, it seems. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/uk_forecast_warnings.html?day=2

Not very, I generally find. Would be amazed if it turned out like that!

Yes, its just that the last of the original generation of re-introduced kites has died. Hundreds of other breeding pairs in Scotland.

It's not correct to generalise Scotland as a whole as being wet. The west is wet but most eastern parts are considerably drier than a lot of England.

Skifreak - yes, 2006 was an even more-striking example of lack of snow around February time and then a lot of ski-ing days in April. There's hope yet, although as a natural pessimist (I say realist) I know that things might well fail to improve. Haven't looked at the Glencoe website but the west (at altitude) has done better than the east this year and I think there should be a fair few weeks of ski-ing left yet in the upper bowl there. No doubt that the 'traditional' Scottish pattern of increasing cold after new year seems to have fallen away in the last few years quite spectacularly.

The 1990s had 'legendary' winters?! I can only assume you are fairly young!

I'm going to do a very un-Scottish thing and moan about the excessive amount of sunshine here today! Apart from one very squally hail shower with some snowflakes mixed in and a brief sleet shower it's been pretty much wall-to-wall sunshine with an icy wind.

Wow! An amazingly squally shower just blew across here at tremendous speed - one minute it was sunny the next minute the higher ground above EK and Hamilton disppeared in a great grey squall - blew across from there to here in about 2 minutes flat. Could clearly see the intense precipitation falling out of the sky several miles away. A few snowflakes blowing around on its back edge but has settled back again. Was a bit like being up in the hills for a minute!

Snowshield well in place here. Sunny and windy all morning here with just one brief hail shower - BBC forecast suggest little prospect of seeing anything but it would be nice just to see a rogue shower like the one in Livingston. Looks like there will be some hefty falls up north - shame about the mild spell forecast for next week - the stop-start ski season looks like becoming more stop than start!

MWIS going for NWly backing round to Westerly winds as the weekend progresses: http://www.mwis.org.uk/pcayeefcfhhpziv/WH.PDF Snow also forecast to reach as far south as the Southern Uplands (primarily Galloway/the west) not just restricted to the Highlands, at least on higher ground.

I presumed that at least some of it might add to the potentially long-lasting accumulations on some E/SE corries? Do you think there might be no net gain of snow by early next week then?

I find this a bit of a peculiar statement to be honest, even leaving aside that there is a significant difference between the number of snow fallying/lying days etc. between southern England and the snowiest parts of Scotland. The presence of much higher ground in Scotland and N England means that it is usually possible during long spells of even the mildest of winters to experience some quite extreme winter conditions, or at least something interesting which gives a taste of winter. If you have legs and lungs you are free to make the most of it, and its not always necessary to climb all that much to experience a taste of it. For example. I've managed walks in snowy places almost every weekend since the beginning of December. At the risk of getting up people's noses, I'm not sure anyone is qualified to comment meaningfully on UK weather until they've experienced winter conditions in the mountains - a whole different level from anything that can be experienced in the lowlands. It can seem a bit surreal (although perfectly understandable given the population distribution) coming on here at times after having been gazing at mile after mile of snowy hills ( in particular during spells where the upper air isn't particularly cold) and then reading the model forum and other discussions going on about lack of snow and cold, and then getting itself into a state of excitement about a transient fall of a couple of centimetres down south. Having said all this - If it wasn't for the accessibility of hills and mountains within a shortish drive I would cheerfully admit that my own location is 'below average' UK-wise (to put it kindly) for 'good weather' of warm sunny summers and cold snowy winters. Lots of rain, cool summers, not particularly snowy (although the previous couple of winters were amazing) but nevertheless I couldn't live anywhere with the same weather all the time so I am fairly content (although the cloud and rain and wind can test one's patience at times!) Also, I can't stand thunderstorms as they are terrifying if you are out on the hills so am happy enough with the relative lack of these!

Firefly - What do you think of the weekend's prospects - looks like potential heavy snowfall on W/NW winds?