NorthernRab

Isn't the Black Isle named as such because of the snow shield? I know it was named "árd meanach" until recently, but is now "the black isle" because many of its pine trees are so often without snow in winter compared to neighbouring Inverness and Ross?

Interestingly, in May it's not extremely unusual for the Highlands to be warmer than the south of England, owing to high pressure / longer days. I can remember quite a few years sunbathing out in 25'C or so when it's only 20'C or so down in London. I'm fairly sure Skye recorded the hottest May day in the Highlands at just below 30'C.

You can't polish a **** as they say. :lol:

-13'C, that's the indoor temperature, right? Softie :lol:

Liathach in all her glory if I'm not mistaken, great shot HC! You're around Achnasheen or Kinlochewe anyway, maybe around Bidean Clann Raonaild.

A cold morning in Inverness, -9,2'C out there and not a breath of wind, beautiful morning!

Probably, haha! I confess I don't like the stress of the model thread, only the excitement. I just don't like to use the ignore button on anyone at all, so I just have to put up with others dramatically flipping between joy and sorrow as the models struggle in difficult set ups. Besides, gives me more motivation to get on with uni work. I'll pop into the Scottish Thread, of course - no place like it on NW and a corner of sanity in this world

-8'C here in Inverness this morning, rather fuar to say the least! Going to take a rest from the models for a few days, hopefully I'll be greeted with a raging NErly when I return, I've waited so long

That was restricted to areas with a bit of altitude though, it was always going to be touch and go in Scotland - things looking a bit better for us Scots snow wise towards the middle of the month

Exactly and there's a lot less of this "battleground" obsession, which is a risky business. The battle would be taking place far west of Scotland in the Atlantic under such circumstances, and its far easier for the favourable high pressure to stay in place compared to the Scandinavian high. Indeed, it's also more generally easier to deliver a north-easterly, where we tend to do very well in terms of cold 850hPa temps owing to our Norwegian and Swedish neighbours. Yet another advantage is that northerlies tend to deliver better country-wide snowfall. I'm genuinely very upbeat about mid-month February - as you know LS this is one of the best times to benefit from the bottled up cold of the Arctic, the convective potential is fantastic!

Good things come to those who wait, especially if those things are from Greenland

Actually, it was snowing in Inverness for a while before 6, but doesn't really make a difference to the end result I guess!

That's Allt Na Feadh - too late at night to book a room in the Kingshouse Hotel I wonder? :lol:

I can see how the top part of the the word topography is relevent...how about the ography part? You get me?

It's the topography I think, allows for cold pooling very quickly. Only -2'C in many of the glens surrounding the city!

Just hit -8'C here in the Highland capital, very nearly the coldest night of the winter. In fact, scrap that - it is! :lol:

Just shy of -7'C here in Inverness, chilly night!

Positive developments on the 12z - good upgrades in the reliable term.

I think how Greenland treats the arrival of high pressure is actually more crucial to us Scots in the long term - although a 'Beasterly' is always welcome, it's a Northerly (with a western or eastern gradient to it) that we really need if we want a full country wide snowy spell and it's a Greenland High that will deliver that. Beasterly followed by northerly, though, I'll take that any day!

Fingers crossed, haven't record below -10'C since 2010! Next week I'm sure we'll get the odd surprise as usual, nothing like a rogue shower!

Past -6'C here already, looking like a cold one!

-7.8'C here in Inverness, lowest of the winter so far! Clear skies, looks like a nice winter's day to come!

I realised that I had misread your post completely a while ago, but I had just had a huge dinner and couldn't bring myself to correcting it. Apologies Edit: on re-reading this post this morning, what a fat lazy student I'm becoming - apologies bro XD

Oh I'm not denying for a moment that some fantastic discussion takes place in that thread - I was most specifically referring to the extremely dramatic mood shifts caused by take certain runs as gospel (I'm looking at cold fans as much as any one else here). It would be better for everyone's sanity if people were a little more patient and took a broader view of the models, that's all I'm saying.

Am I the only who feels like doing this to the Model Output Discussion thread at times?