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spindrift1980

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    Scotland Regional Weather Discussion 27/01/14

    in Regional

    Posted

    Lovely picture - and yes it does look a little different now!  You're looking down on Eastside Farm there from the hill we call Pinky - the Kips are in the left of the frame, Scald Law (the highest point in Pentlands in the middle) and the South Black Hill to the right.  A great spot for a walk - though maybe not today!

     

    Pinky - haven't heard that one before!  I wonder where that comes from.  Official name is given on the map as Cap Law, but this is supposedly an error and it should really be Gap Law.

    Scotland Regional Weather Discussion 27/01/14

    in Regional

    Posted

    We live just a few meters from the Pentland Hills webcam at Eastside Holiday Cottages and I can confirm that the snow is coming down heavily!  Some of the biggest flakes I've seen for quite some time with visibility low and it's starting to settle...

     

    I'm envious - it's a lovely location - been up walking there a few times.  Here's a photo I took this summer (it's looking very different on the cam at the moment!):

     

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    Scotland Regional Weather Discussion 27/01/14

    in Regional

    Posted

    As it happens, I was walking in the (very snowy) hills above Spittal of Glenshee on Friday.  Having been unable to resist a rare day of benign weather forecast for Friday, I took the day off work and was rewarded with a superb day.  The snow line was generally about 450 - 500m.  I didn't drive as far up as the ski centre, where the summit of the road is 665m.  The first photo is at 650m, climbing to just over 800m at the summit of Ben Earb by the third photo.

     

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    Winter 2013-2014 Discussion- Part 2

    in Spring Weather Discussion

    Posted · Edited by spindrift1980

    There was certainly a big frontal snowfall giving 20cm plus to Glasgow and western Scotland on the weekend of 11/12 March 2006, which back then was probably the most snow we'd had since February 2001 or maybe even February 1996.

     

    I have to say that my perception of March is that even during the warming climate of the late 1980s onwards, it's generally stayed a pretty cold month, but this might be a particularly northern/Scottish viewpoint.

    Scotland Regional Weather Discussion 27/01/14

    in Regional

    Posted · Edited by spindrift1980

    I don't like the look of the dry area surrounding Glasgow on that chartPosted Image

     

    The Reporting Scotland forecast for Friday mentioned 'snow to fairly low levels for a time' or something along those lines, but it did also feature that dry patch in the Glasgow area!!

    Winter 2013-2014 Discussion- Part 2

    in Spring Weather Discussion

    Posted · Edited by spindrift1980

    Some very good points here- just a small correction, I think you mean 1999/00 rather than 2000/01, as that was a very "westerly" winter with some big snowfalls in the Highlands in December and February, and 41 snow patches survived until the following winter according to a paper in Weather.  The most remarkable season that I've come across for Scottish snow retention was the 1993/94 one which had frequent heavy snowfalls from westerly-driven conditions in December, January, March and early April.

     

    Yes, it was 1999/2000 I was thinking of, thanks.  Will be interesting to see how the late-lying snow patches fare this year as the big westerly/south-westerly storms have deposited much snow on aspects east through north, which get least sunshine and where snow persists longest.

     

    That spring of 1994 was the one where (just short of my 14th birthday) I was first introduced to the joys of hillwalking, so I didn't realise at the time that not every April and May wouldn't feature that level of snow cover!

    Winter 2013-2014 Discussion- Part 2

    in Spring Weather Discussion

    Posted · Edited by spindrift1980

    The ski centres enjoying 250-300 cm of snow breaking previous records of 09 and 10 and the rest uk experiencing one of the mildest winters. has this Extreme contrast happened before?.

     

    Often the winters with the largest build-ups of snow on the Scottish mountains are those in which the low ground experiences little snowfall.  The period of westerly/south-westerly storms in December and general zonal pattern have obviously been very wet but the uppers have been low enough to keep the vast majority of high altitude precipitation falling as snow.  It's worth bearing in mind that ski-ing in Scotland relies primarily on drifting and retention of snow in areas with natural snow-holding capabilities (the figures you quote are level depths, I believe, and there will be drifts many times deeper) and so the winds have played their part in creating drifts which will not disappear readily when the freezing level rises.  The coldest spells in winter, on the other hand, are often much drier and calmer.  Having said that, this winter has been an extreme example of this not untypical pattern, with almost no snow on low ground but with the south-westerly sourced air not being mild enough to cause frequent or severe thaws or cause rain rather than snow to fall at high altitude.  I would need to remind myself of some of the previous papers which have been written on the subject, but 2000/1 (and to a lesser extent 2007/8) spring to mind as winters which saw particularly copious snowfall at high altitude but a notable lack of low ground wintriness for much of the winter.

     

    It's also worth noting that the two ski centres which have had the biggest accumulations this winter have been those in the west - Nevis and Glencoe.  Cairngorm has done pretty well too, being at high altitude, but of the other eastern centres Glenshee has had a fairly average stop-start season (though it looks healthy at the moment) and the lowest (at 2090ft asl) and most north-eastern of the centres, the Lecht, has seldom had enough snow to open at all, though it was also looking much better yesterday and I think they might be intending to open tomorrow.

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    Scotland Regional Weather Discussion 07/01/14

    in Regional

    Posted

    Lol,guess what, I was also considering a drive to Braemar or Glenshee on Sunday snow hunting with my youngest. Anyone for a kilted thread snowball fight?Coming from the Aberdeen side Braemar would probably be a safe enough drive for me and I've done it in the snow before. Not sure if Glenshee would be much fun if Sundays forecast is accurate as it looks a tad windy for comfort. Unlikely to do it as busy tomorrow so Sunday needed for catching up on other jobs. If it doesn't snow here soon I will have to resort to such desperate measures.BUS, enjoy your time with the little one whatever you get up to!

     

    If Sunday's forecasts are accurate, I would think there's a fair chance the snow gates will be closed on the A93 just south of Braemar because of drifting on the higher part of the road near the ski centre.  At the very least, driving the Braemar to Glenshee section might be 'interesting'.

    Let's encourage winter sports in Scotland just before it turns out to be the most snowless winter!

    in Historic Weather

    Posted

    It would seem that there was still enough snow in the Cairngorms that winter for snow to survive from the winter of 1931/1932 right through to the winter of 1932/33 at the Garbh Coire Mor of Braeriach (the most persistent snow site in the British Isles).  However, in the autumn of 1933 all snow in this corrie melted for the first time in living memory (indeed, the first ever recorded time).  Since then, it has also melted in the autumns of 1959, 1996, 2003 & 2006.

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