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UK Mountain Snow/Weather 2008


kippure

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Posted
  • Location: Canada
  • Location: Canada

With all this warm weather coming up from the south over the next few days, just thinking how long will it take this years snow patchs to disappear, if at all!!!

Its the wet weather that affects snow patch survival and not the heat as it is reflected back.

A cool westerly airflow helps maintain the snow especailly in the gullies and corries and away from any sun.

How long will they last this year....june? July? August maybe?

If the snow that is shown on winterhighland is anything to go by theres alot of melting to be done.

Winterhighland here

Edited by Ross B
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Posted
  • Location: Highland Scotland
  • Location: Highland Scotland

What we don't want is warm gales, they produce a hair drier effect on the snowpack as was witnessed on Sunday and Monday. More snow was lost in 36hours at the start of this week than in the previous 2 weeks of warm sunny conditions.

Still sliding though up top on CairnGorm Mountain, where surface conditions are improving again with the clear nights and warm day temps giving diurnal freeze thaw cycling and thus good granular spring snow, the light winds also helps and the snowpack which was rotten and sodden on Tuesday is now drying out and firming up again.

Still winter climbing been down high on Ben Nevis and easier grade gulley climbs on CairnGorm and Aonach Mor, still a plenty scope for high level touring and backcountry snowsports.

ptarmiganbowl.jpg

Terrain Park toys out in the Ptarmigan Bowl on Thursday, blue skies and unbroken sun again Friday, more expected Saturday. Suncream, shades and lots of fluids essential - real risk of dehydradion, indeed people have even suffered heat stroke on the large snowfields of the plateau in these conditions, people can seriously underestimate the effect snow has on the strength of the sun.

Edited by skifreak
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Posted
  • Location: Dundee
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, thunderstorms, gales. All extremes except humidity.
  • Location: Dundee
With all this warm weather coming up from the south over the next few days, just thinking how long will it take this years snow patchs to disappear, if at all!!!

Its the wet weather that affects snow patch survival and not the heat as it is reflected back.

A cool westerly airflow helps maintain the snow especailly in the gullies and corries and away from any sun.

How long will they last this year....june? July? August maybe?

If the snow that is shown on winterhighland is anything to go by theres alot of melting to be done.

Winterhighland here

Even with this poor Winter the patches will not be gone by June or even July. I have never known a year when at least a few didn't make it through to August. Remember until recently it was a rare year that did not see patches lasting all year in places like Braeriach in the Cairngorms.

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Posted
  • Location: Atherstone on Stour: 160ft asl
  • Location: Atherstone on Stour: 160ft asl
Even with this poor Winter the patches will not be gone by June or even July. I have never known a year when at least a few didn't make it through to August. Remember until recently it was a rare year that did not see patches lasting all year in places like Braeriach in the Cairngorms.

Fair comment, I saw snow patches on Lochnagar c1991-ish in early July. A month later I got caught (briefly) in a white-out on Glen Shee.

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Posted
  • Location: Steeton, W Yorks, 270m ASL
  • Location: Steeton, W Yorks, 270m ASL
With all this warm weather coming up from the south over the next few days, just thinking how long will it take this years snow patchs to disappear, if at all!!!

Its the wet weather that affects snow patch survival and not the heat as it is reflected back.A cool westerly airflow helps maintain the snow especailly in the gullies and corries and away from any sun.

How long will they last this year....june? July? August maybe?

If the snow that is shown on winterhighland is anything to go by theres alot of melting to be done.

Winterhighland here

I'd agree that rain spoils snow faster than warmth, but anyone who has ever seen a snow covered valley, and watched for a day or two during warm sunny weather, will vouch for the fact that the biggest determinant of melting is aspect. I have seen plenty of high slopes in the Alps denuded without any rain ever falling. Heat does slowly melt snow, but once you have a bare patch the ground warnms quickly and the rate of melt increases. That's why permanent snow in areas below permanent diurnal ZDL altitude is invariably in the shade (I'll exclude glaciers from that assessment where mass is just too great to disappear in a season, but as I've mentioned on here before, anyone who doubts the impact of warmth should go see the rate of retreat of the margins of the ice in Iceland).

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Posted
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, convective precipitation, snow, thunderstorms, "episodic" months.
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
I'd agree that rain spoils snow faster than warmth, but anyone who has ever seen a snow covered valley, and watched for a day or two during warm sunny weather, will vouch for the fact that the biggest determinant of melting is aspect. I have seen plenty of high slopes in the Alps denuded without any rain ever falling. Heat does slowly melt snow, but once you have a bare patch the ground warnms quickly and the rate of melt increases. That's why permanent snow in areas below permanent diurnal ZDL altitude is invariably in the shade (I'll exclude glaciers from that assessment where mass is just too great to disappear in a season, but as I've mentioned on here before, anyone who doubts the impact of warmth should go see the rate of retreat of the margins of the ice in Iceland).

In Cleadon, there was a good recent example on 21 March this year. A 2cm snow cover accumulated the previous night, but struggled to settle on a small patch on the pavement. By 9am the next day, most parts still had 2cm cover, but a large area around the aforementioned patch had seen a complete thaw. In essence the snowmelt seemed to be radiating outwards from the bare patch.

As for the snow patches, I reckon that there's more chance of a few of them surviving this year. Although this winter was milder than 2005/06, the frequent Atlantic gales will have resulted in deep snowfalls on the highest peaks- essentially the greater precipitation will have offset the higher temperatures, particularly as it came mostly from the west or south-west. Snow patches typically last longer when snows come in from the Atlantic, e.g. the years of 1996 and 2001 had low snow patch survival despite following on from long cold snowy winters. By contrast, the year 2000, following on from a mild westerly-dominated winter, saw 41 patches survive; the westerlies brought much snow to high ground.

However, the mildness of the season should ensure that the patch survival will be below the long-term average. The only years in which all patches melted were 1933, 1959, 1996, 2003 and 2006 (source: Weather) and to have two consecutive years in which all patches melted would be remarkable.

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Posted
  • Location: Dundee
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, thunderstorms, gales. All extremes except humidity.
  • Location: Dundee
As for the snow patches, I reckon that there's more chance of a few of them surviving this year. Although this winter was milder than 2005/06, the frequent Atlantic gales will have resulted in deep snowfalls on the highest peaks- essentially the greater precipitation will have offset the higher temperatures, particularly as it came mostly from the west or south-west. Snow patches typically last longer when snows come in from the Atlantic, e.g. the years of 1996 and 2001 had low snow patch survival despite following on from long cold snowy winters. By contrast, the year 2000, following on from a mild westerly-dominated winter, saw 41 patches survive; the westerlies brought much snow to high ground.

However, the mildness of the season should ensure that the patch survival will be below the long-term average. The only years in which all patches melted were 1933, 1959, 1996, 2003 and 2006 (source: Weather) and to have two consecutive years in which all patches melted would be remarkable.

Yes, both 1996 and 2001 had relatively late significant snowfalls but they came in on North Easterlies and stacked up on South-West facing slopes. The rate of melt was remarkable, even on higher ground and by late April most South facing slopes were bare. Patches on lower hills lasted relatively late in Spring in places like the Ochills and even West Lomond in Fife these years.

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Posted
  • Location: Canada
  • Location: Canada
CairnGorm Mountain on Saturday 28th April:

bluebird.jpg

The camera never lies.... but a more telling angle:

sails.jpg

Will winter highland be bringing us any more snow pics. Is that it for this season?

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Posted
  • Location: East Renfrewshire 180m asl
  • Location: East Renfrewshire 180m asl

Some snow showers forecast for the mountains tommorrow, monday and probably throughout the week :unknw:

http://www.mwis.org.uk/mountain/WH.PDF

I think i'll take a trip up to the mountains on monday and hopefuly catch a few showers.

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Posted
  • Location: Highland Scotland
  • Location: Highland Scotland

There was a dusting of fresh on the top of CairnGorm on Wed morning, currently 0c at the top and at 3700ft on Aonach Mor with moderate precipitation on the radar, could be white views on the cams in the morning (unfortunately the Ptarmigan cam is stuck again).

Snowforecast is going for half a metre for the Gorm over the next few days.... :whistling:

The Ciste Ski Tow is still ready to roll.... will it be :yahoo: or :doh: ?

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Posted
  • Location: Dundee
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, thunderstorms, gales. All extremes except humidity.
  • Location: Dundee

Sometimes late wet snow falls like in the last few days can actually hasten the melting of the remaining snowpack when the new snow melts having softened the previous sugary snow which had resulted from a freeze / thaw cycle.

Tonight is forecast to be well below freezing in the mountains so this may help keep the snow a little longer.

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Posted
  • Location: Hubberton up in the Pennines, 260m
  • Location: Hubberton up in the Pennines, 260m

On say the Beeb weather charts i see on tv the snow is endless!

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Posted
  • Location: Highland Scotland
  • Location: Highland Scotland

A bit more on the Ptarmigan Web Cam this morning:

pt-2007-05-15-09.30hrs.jpg

Getting there......

fairway-2007-05-12.jpg:mellow:

^Ciste Fairway slowly filling and Ciste T-bar still ready to roll! It couldn't could it?

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Posted
  • Location: Nr Malton, North Yorkshire 53m
  • Weather Preferences: Snow/Thunderstorms
  • Location: Nr Malton, North Yorkshire 53m

great to still see some snow about in the UK, only 6 months till winter 07/08 woooo

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Posted
  • Location: Atherstone on Stour: 160ft asl
  • Location: Atherstone on Stour: 160ft asl
A bit more on the Ptarmigan Web Cam this morning:

pt-2007-05-15-09.30hrs.jpg

Getting there......

fairway-2007-05-12.jpg:good:

^Ciste Fairway slowly filling and Ciste T-bar still ready to roll! It couldn't could it?

I blame Global Warming :whistling:

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Posted
  • Location: Highland Scotland
  • Location: Highland Scotland

Will have put a bit of a dent in ground surface temperatures with this freeze/thaw cycling. On the Southern snowfields where there was an existing base there was 8inches of fresh built up by Monday and this has undergone some freeze/thaw now, with a further five inches last night at Ptarmigan Restaurant level.

Light winds though, so little drifting, otherwise there would be some fairly hefty drifts behind the fences high up, a foot of level snow fall drifting on a NW wind could fill the fence lines on the Ciste Fairway in the photo above. Not often you wish for more wind on CairnGorm! :wallbash::friends:

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