Scottish weather discussion - Spring 2023/24

[Ross B]

Clear blue skies and strong spring  winter sunshine which feels pleasant. Yesterday was similar but with a bit more cloud. it's still very muddy underfoot. It would be nice if we could get this every day for at least a few weeks 

As @Northernlights mentioned winter isn't finished yet, and there is still the risk of some snow for the next couple of months... This winter has been a reminder to stay grounded when it comes to cold/snow forecasts in this country. The charts looked very cold from early December with many comments of 1947/63 in the model thread which I thankfully ignored after 20 years of experience on here  (although the north did well and we managed some snow here so I can't complain too much)  If we hadn't got that 3 or 4 inch fall early December I would be disappointed though particularly with the bust early Jan where the front went south. 

[JoeShmoe]

Beautiful day today, clear blue sky, felt the warmth of the sun walking the dog, spring is stirring. This horrow show of a non winter can do one now, Roll on summer. Lovely stuff

[jellybaby1969]

 JoeShmoe

Kind of sums it up for me . Tragic winter for most of the UK , perhaps only parts of the Highlands would give this winter a pass mark.  Despite the hype, background signals ..ssw etc  Its been utter manure.

[Hairy Celt]

7 hours ago, Halfamilefromnowhere said:

Minus 6 yesterday morning then a glorious day until heavy showers late afternoon, very icy this morning with loads black ice but sunny skies although clouds gathering to the west heralding the coming change   Good covering of snow on higher hills prob above 2000 ft

Your powers of observation must be failing you as apparently winter is over! 

[Norrance]

Nice and sunny in Dundee this morning after a frosty start. Up to Aberdeen pm for a couple of days. Bright ints up here too and cool this evening but no frost at least so far. Rain forecast later tonight.

[jellybaby1969]

All change today.. another wet breezy day, Thank god for setraline or i would be self harming !!

[mistyqueen]

A glorious weekend up here, wall to wall blue skies and frosty mornings! Big change now! Rained a bit during the night, but has cleared up a bit now, so I guess that's Winter just aboot done wi', such as it was. Am hopeful of a pleasant spring and let's just wait and see what, ahem, Summer holds for us! 

[shuggee]

Well, I just had to eh?

[Halfamilefromnowhere]

 shuggee ooooo!

[Quinach]

Respectable couple of days with good spells of sunshine and just a few fleeting showers.  Frosty overnight, max today 6.5c with a stiff SW wind in the morning.

Crocuses and Miniature Iris now in full bloom, a little earlier than last year..

Kids this evening exploring the chance of missing school tomorrow thanks to the spring show up at Thainstone.  The suggestion got short shrift...

[Hairy Celt]

  Glen Orrin yesterday. Blustery showers, wintry down to low levels, although the snow was melting - and filling the burns!

[Hairy Celt]

A really blustery day here, now abated.  Barely any of the showers reached this far.  And now the temp's dropping away again.

[Northernlights]

Very windy day with a rotten old ash tree felled by the wind. But its been the first really drying day so far this year with the ground surface becoming dusty in some areas a   magnificent sight. Cool  all day  and temperature on the way down currently 2c

[Hawesy]

Well that’s a wrap on meteorological winter. My brief local wintry summary:

11 air frosts (4 Dec, 5 Jan, 2 Feb)
1 ice day
No lying snow

Nothing too surprising for my mild location. What’s been more notable is that on the back of a very wet October and November, it’s been a dreary 5 months of wind and rain. Certainly the most protracted spell of poor weather since I moved here in 2005.

[Quinach]

Welcome to the first day of spring, winter  says hold on and delivers a bitter start to the day as it's -5c at the moment with frost sparkling on the grass.  Calm conditions and beautiful clear blue skies.

[101_North]

Absolutely beautiful start to spring! -3c and blue skies. Fantastic! 

Shame it's looking likely to nosedive into rain and sleety pish later

Edited March 1 by 101_North

[Huntforsnow]

6 years ago today popped up in my memories this morning! 
snow drifts as high as the hedges. This was the road to the stables where I kept my horse at the time and we actually climbed through this snow ️ 

[Scottish-Irish Skier]

It's weird. At the new hoose, I've had 3 cold spells that stuck in the mind, all of which turned things variably white and frosty oot. One was pretty full on, sustained, and with drifts well over a metre on my road. 

This is way better that some winters I've experienced, yet I feel it's been a poor winter, and skiing conditions in Scotland have been crap to non-existent. Meanwhile, over in Norway, they've had more snow than they know what to do with, including in areas not so used to it. 

Norwegian Glacier Resort Reports Lifts Buried by 10m (33’+) Of Snow - The Whiteroom

WWW.SNOW-FORECAST.COM

---

A glacier ski area which usually opens in spring and summer each year has reported it has had to play “find the ski lift” after winter snowfall buried parts of its drag lift...

The Alps started out really well pre-Christmas, but then had a hard time with resorts below 1600 m suffering until the past week or so, while the Pyrenees had a really hard time. Now both are getting more seasonal weather with snowfall.

As for me, I am off to Les Menuires in the 3 valleys tomorrow. OMG this is costing an arm and a leg now, but it's my first proper holiday in a year. Mrs SS and Mini Miss SS enjoyed trips to France a couple of times to stay with the French family while I did DIY on the new hoose. 

Cannae wait. Forecast is for 28 cm of fresh at resort level (1850 m) over Sat/Sun, topping up what is a good base for the time of year. Then bluebird days. Sweet.

I read all these stories of 'alps screwed for skiing', but conditions now are better than trips I had many years ago.

Schladming, Austria 1988(?) with high School and really warm weather meant no option but op to the Dachstein Glacier. That was in January! And it wasn't like cold but lack of snow, because I remember thin cover melting over the week drastically, forcing a trip to the glacier at the end. 

Then Badgastien 1994(?), again with the school, wasn't great. No skiing to valley level and really thin cover lower down. January again.  

And early march trips to the Tarentaise Valley resorts in the 00's were often characterised by zero snow below 1600 m or so, and bartlett high sunshine. 

My memory of stupid bumper snaw was actually recent in 2016 early march in La Plagne. Van burying levels, which i posted pics of here.  

My memories of the highlands are similar. While I enjoyed the heydays of the 80's, I do remember mostly heather, with snaw between the fences, and that's what you see if you look up old pics / vids. It was not some white winter wonderland. Also that the 1990's saw both a decline in skiers, but also snaw reliability.

A very complex picture. Also an irony that if global warming causes Scottish cooling, folk from the Alps may come here to ski. 

As for now, just one sleep to go!

 

Edited March 1 by Scottish-Irish Skier

[Hairy Celt]

Another day in Glen Orrin that started with a clear blue sky and a sharp frost    

 

then clouded over mid afternoon, only to break a little as some showers drifted down from the corrie to the south  I puzzled for a short while about whether the shortness of the rainbow was because the shower was snow higher up, but then thought it was actually because there only was a fairly shallow streak of sunlight coming down the glen. And I only saw it because I turned round to close a gate. So do rainbows only exist if someone sees it?    

[JoeShmoe]

Squall line right now in Embra, absolutely lashing it down, and as it’s from the NE it’s loud (hitting windows at angles it doesn’t usually !)

[101_North]

Very heavy hail here at the minute! Everything briefly white. 

Edit: Now turned to heavy sleety pish! 

Edited March 1 by 101_North

[Norrance]

The temperature here rose  this evening and 10 minutes ago was 4.3C.  Rain started, turned heavy and within minutes turned to sleet with temps dropping 2 degrees. Easing off a little now but still a bit sleety.

Anyone else have a quite dramatic orange/red sky earlier?  Thought that was a prediction of fair weather.

Just as I am away to post heavier and sleety again.

Edited March 1 by Norrance

[Ravelin]

4 hours ago, Scottish-Irish Skier said:

As for me, I am off to Les Menuires in the 3 valleys tomorrow.

Insanely jealous, enjoy it, and if your ski bag is a bit overweight, I haven't snuck into it, honest. We're definitely heading across the channel with the motorhome for the first two weeks of April, whether we head to the Alps to try to get a few days skiing in depends on whether we think it's going to be worth the effort. That'll largely depend on snow conditions. 

Decent day here today, lots of sun, little wind, dog walk felt warm at times even if temp was only mid single figures. 

[Norrance]

 Scottish-Irish Skier

Have been to Val Thorens previously so can say that you would be guaranteed snow in the area and some pretty exciting skiing. We were there in March and the level snow was about 7 feet with the recent individual winter falls being identifiable where the road had been ploughed. While there we had one heavy fall and also experiences diamond dust in bright sunshine in very cold air up top.

Incidentally I have skied Schladming twice with great conditions and Bad Gastein once so you were maybe unlucky. Schladming also had the bar that was open all night where you could go for a pizza (or more beer) when the night club closed. At least one person in our group who shall remain nameless (but may be known to at least one person that reads this) went straight to skiing from that pub one morning.

[Northernlights]

Very wet morning taking  ground conditions to square one Snow down to about 750 feet as we delivered hay inland.. Brighter afternoon but cool currently  2c with clear intervals.