Surviving Snow Patches

[Mondy]

Can't find a thread which covers this

Local hills (not mountains) just about snow-free now. It's taken a while.

Don't think I've ever seen snow last so long on The Ochils.

How's other areas doing?

[Guest]

Can't find a thread which covers this :lol:

Local hills (not mountains) just about snow-free now. It's taken a while.

Don't think I've ever seen snow last so long on The Ochils.

How's other areas doing?

There's still snow on Arran but that's cheating as Goat Fell goes up to almost 3,000ft :lol: Having said that I have never seen snow on it in May before.

As you say there has been snow around on even the lower hills for a long long time this year. The last of the snow went from my local hills (Renfrewshire Heights) only a couple of weeks ago which is pretty impressive as they're only 522m at their highest point, Hill of Stake.

[Optimus Prime]

All the snow piles gone here in late March. Not like it used to be in the good old days when they would last into August.

[Alternative Ulster]

Follow this thread:

http://forum.netweat...s/page__st__170

[John_T]

All the discussion on long lasting snow patches seems to be over at WinterHighland this year. Here's the link.

[Osbourne One-Nil]

Still many patches of snow left on the Pennines around here, but they're obscured today by a fall of fresh snow overnight.

[shuggee]

Can't find a thread which covers this :lol:

Local hills (not mountains) just about snow-free now. :lol: It's taken a while.

Don't think I've ever seen snow last so long on The Ochils.

How's other areas doing?

I counted 10 patches on them today Mondy from the train to Lenzie. One is still quite big.

[JRMcLeod]

Well were still skiing at Cairngorm just now so i dont think were anywhere near the time to be counting remaining snow paltches in the Grampians. Will probably be skiing until June up here this year. All we need is a well below average summer and you never know but could be skiing throughout the summer here. especially if Kelta erupts and blocks some sunlight over the UK.

[Norrance]

Well were still skiing at Cairngorm just now so i dont think were anywhere near the time to be counting remaining snow paltches in the Grampians. Will probably be skiing until June up here this year. All we need is a well below average summer and you never know but could be skiing throughout the summer here. especially if Kelta erupts and blocks some sunlight over the UK.

I suspect that when the snow on the higher Scottish hills eventually melts into small enough bits to be called wreaths or patches then Firefly will open a dedicated patch thread as he has in the last few years. In the meantime the snow covered areas in the Highlands and Grampians, especially the Cairngorms, are far too big above 3000 feet to be called patches, even without this weeks new cover on top.

Meanwhile on Winter Highland there is an interesting thread running on snow patches South of the Highlands. I don't know if there is enough interest to begin a similar thread here??

Edited May 11, 2010 by Norrance

[Cheggers]

Can't find a thread which covers this

Local hills (not mountains) just about snow-free now. It's taken a while.

Don't think I've ever seen snow last so long on The Ochils.

How's other areas doing?

Ochils currently getting a wee top up.

[firefly]

Norrance is quite right! There's waaaaaaaay too much snow in the Highlands just now to start a meaningful thread on the subject. That's why I've started one (as I did last year) on Winterhighland for southern Scotland/northern England. If there's sufficient interest on here to do the same then I'd be delighted to follow it and add to it. Failing that, keep up-to-date with the snow reports on WH.

The situation at present is that snow is still persisting in large quantities on the Lake District hills, northern Pennines and Southern Uplands of Scotland. In addition, Wales is still holding onto snow at Snowdon and Carnedd Llewelyn: possibly other places. An excellent site for this is here: http://www.llansadwr...k/ice/snow.html

The wreaths, this year almost exclusively facing W/SW/S, are a result of large northerly/north-easterly storms over the winter. The best example of this is the huge wreath still clearly visible from the M6 that is sitting below the summit of Cross Fell. This wreath, still convex, is hundreds of metres long. It will without doubt last into June. Who knows, if the weather remains cool then we could even be looking at July. Highly unusual.

As of the weekend, the Ochils in Scotland were still holding onto a tiny bit of snow in Silver Glen, here. An incredibly low altitude of 220m!

The Peak District lost its last snow on the 5th May, so far as we can tell.

Edited May 12, 2010 by firefly

[Backtrack]

There are large snow patches still on Snowdon in Wales.

[JRMcLeod]

Ochils currently getting a wee top up.

220m, thats pretty insane. That must have been either very deep or absolutely no sunlight and shelter from rain.

[Paul T]

Still many patches of snow left on the Pennines around here, but they're obscured today by a fall of fresh snow overnight.

Fantastic photos, May10th and photos like that taken in England at what must be 450-500m asl? Nice one

Paul

Edited May 13, 2010 by Paul T

[Guest]

220m, thats pretty insane. That must have been either very deep or absolutely no sunlight and shelter from rain.

There hasn't really been that much rain in the last couple of months, although I can only talk for here not the Ochils.

Still pretty amazing though <_<

[4wd]

April had decent maximums, but many nights were close to freezing and ground frost most nights in gulleys and at altitude.

May has just been plain cold so far.

[firefly]

Yes, the snow at 220m is remarkable. It may now be gone, but I've got someone going up to look at it today, so will post back whether it has survived thus far. Funnily enough, travellers in the 19th century did allude to this location (without actually naming it) as holding snow into summer. It was described as a hollow "300 feet deep...near Alva". Unquestionably the Silver Glen location. Adam Watson and I are writing a book about historical evidence of more snow in Britain between the 17th century and early 20th century, and this forms a small part of our research.

[Osbourne One-Nil]

Fantastic photos, May10th and photos like that taken in England at what must be 450-500m asl? Nice one

Paul

Probably more like 700m and above, but impressive nonetheless.

Still some snow under Cross Fell, even halfway down. Seeing as it's south facing, goodness knows how deep it must have originally been to survive this long.

This was taken on April 21st -

And this was taken this afternoon -

It'll be interesting to see how long it survives with next week predicted to become warmer.

[Derbyshire_snow]

* Pictures now posted.

Edited May 16, 2010 by Derbyshire_snow

[Derbyshire_snow]

Here are a selection photos that i took of Mt Snowdon & the surrounding mountains on Wednesday May the 12th

[Cheggers]

Couple of the Ochils, where you can just make out the last few patches.

[firefly]

Some close-ups of the Ochils from yesterday. Photographs courtesy of Mark Johnson. I'd be very surprised if the two largest patches (on Ben Cleuch and White Wisp) make it to June. Still, late May is incredibly rare, so I'll take that! http://www.flickr.com/photos/28183399@N03/sets/72157624080343468/

[Cheggers]

Some close-ups of the Ochils from yesterday. Photographs courtesy of Mark Johnson. I'd be very surprised if the two largest patches (on Ben Cleuch and White Wisp) make it to June. Still, late May is incredibly rare, so I'll take that! http://www.flickr.co...57624080343468/

I think rare is an understatement. Been in a position to see these hills for the last 8 years or so, and always found that the Ochils would steal the snow before it got to us, but went just as quick, so to see patches 4 months on is astounding!.

[snowy owl]

Truly amazing, i don't think i can remember snow like that for a very very long time!

[firefly]

By-the-way, snowy owl, the snow will last way longer than June on Cairn Gorm! Are you referring to Cairn Gorm itself in you signature, or the range as a whole?