•England Club Fields

•Mountain Weather

•Mountain Forecast Discussion

•Webcams and Weather Stations

Limited beginner terrain on offer at the 3 Eastern areas, mainly on machine made snow. The Glencoe sledge park is open for family fun in the West. Little changes before New Year with high pressure expected to remain in control for the end of 2025.

High Pressure remains firmly in control of the weather over Highland Scotland, but on Saturday the Northern Cairngorms lost out in the inversion lottery, with the mountains engulfed by a damp and at times drizzly mist at all levels. This led to more widespread ice at low levels where temperatures were sub zero.

The basic pattern is going to hold, so the West will have the best chance of more widespread brightness over the next few days, but it is not guaranteed. What can more or less be guaranteed is that we are almost certainly not going to see any meaningful change in the snow cover situation before we see out 2025!

Boxing Day saw the Lecht kick off their season with limited novice terrain on the Robin beginner run, served by the Wren Magic Carpet. Snow making with the snow factory continues to widen out the run and improve the base.

Elsewhere in the East things remain as they were on Christmas Eve, with lift served snowsports restricted to limited novice terrain at both CairnGorm and Glenshee, again on machine made snow except for the Polar Express Trainer Tow adjacent to the Top Station on CairnGorm.

Passes for the Daylodge level magic carpet can be bought for 3 hour AM or PM sessions or a flood light early evening session (3.30pm to 5pm). Day tickets are available, valid on the available uplift from first lift to last. There are some terrain park features out on the Ptarmigan Traverse and a couple of novice features by the lower beginner magic carpet. The Funicular last train up is 3.30pm and last train down at 4.30pm. There is no skiable terrain from the funicular at this time, just access to the Polar Express and snow patches on the Ptarmigan Traverse.

Glenshee has the Dink Dink and beginner rope tow operating. These have a good base of machine made snow. During the holidays pre-booking lift tickets is advisable due to limited slope capacity at present.

At Glencoe, the Sledge Park opened for the season on Saturday and is now open daily wind permitting. From Boxing Day first chair up at 9am, last chair up at 3.45pm and last chair down at 4pm. White Corries Cafe at the base is now open 8am to 8pm daily.

The Nevis Range Gondola is also presently open daily (wind permitting) with the last gondola up at 3.45pm and last down at 4pm.

:: England Club Fields

The three Pennine Clubfields all enjoyed a November start to their season, with Allenheads and Weardale notching up the first lift served UK snow turns of the season. There has not yet been sufficient snow at Raise in the Lake District and all clubfields are currently waiting for new snow.

For both Weardale and Allenheads, you need to join the club with a season pass, these are still available for both at this time.

Please check club access rules / availability if not a club member / pass holder.

Weardale: https: //skiweardale.com/ .
Allenheads: http://ski-allenheads.co.uk/ .
Yad Moss: https: //yadmoss.co.uk/ .
Raise: https: //www.ldscsnowski.co.uk/ .

:: Mountain Weather

At 8pm in the West at the Glencoe SSC hut at 850m the mid mountain temperature was -1.9°c. At Base level it was +1.3°c with light SE breeze. Anemometer icing suspected at mid mountain.

The SAIS summit AWS on Aonach Mor was reporting +0.9°c. The Met Office station was reporting a ESE wind at 10 gusting 19mph. It was -2.1°c at 680m at the CIC Hut. At Tulloch Station (237m) the temperature was +1.3°c.

In the East the CairnGorm the Met Office Summit AWS reported -1.1°c with an ENE wind at a mean of 28 gusting 39mph. Aviemore was at +0.7°c at 8pm.

The Met Office Cairnwell AWS (3061ft /934m) reported -2.3°c with a NNE wind at a mean of 23 gusting 34mph.

:: Mountain Forecast Discussion

High pressure remains centered just to the NW of Scotland drawing in light to moderate winds from the East quadrant, though the wind will gradually swing round to more of a Northerly, drawing in colder air aloft, which will break down the recent inversion conditions.

Some early indications from the most recent model runs that the Northern Highlands could see significant snowfall inland with a bit of elevation for the start of the New Year, whether this transpires and whether it extends to any other areas will depend on exactly how the high pressure shifts and what areas have an onshore wind vector. If the cold air comes in from slightly East of North, convective showers would start to make their way into the Northern Cairngorms from the Moray Firth, a North Easterly may bring hill snow into Southern Scotland, while a NW wind would potentially bring snow further south to the West Coast ski areas than a straight Northerly.

For Sunday it will be more or less dry apart from some rare spots of drizzle or snow grains in areas of thicker mist, most likely in the Eastern Highlands. A somewhat random mix of cloud and sun, but it looks as if higher tops might have a better chance of escaping the gloom in the Cairngorms than on Saturday. Between -1 and +3°c at Munro Level in the East with a moderate East wind with gusts up to around 30mph.

Towards the West Coast, greater chance of more widespread brightness, but still some pockets of inversion mist / cloud and varying levels. There have been marked local variations in temperature in some glens, with various private weather stations indicating a complex multi layered inversion. At Munro Level temperature range will be similar to the East at -1 to +2°c, but higher tops may see +5 to +6°c.

Monday will see the wind turn NE and it should be a widely sunny day in the West Highlands, frosty in the glens and sheltered corries, but above Munro Level expect +5 to +6°c. Wind speeds should be light around 10mph or less. In the East cloud and hill fog will come into the Northern Cairngorms on the NE breeze with the SW sector of the Cairngorms seeing the most brightness. Around 0°c in the Northern Cairngorms at Munro Level, but inversion conditions may hold on in the Southern Cairngorms.

Tuesday will see the inversion break down in a light to moderate Northerly with -1 to -2°c at Munro Level, light snow flurries might be possible on hills exposed to the North wind, while some brighter spells further South.

By Hogmanay it looks as if colder air will have become established at height with around -3 to -4°c at 900m most likely, though it could potentially be a couple of degrees colder. Probably little precipitation on Hogmanay itself going by recent charts. Whether this colder air mass is followed by any significant precipitation will depend on the extent of retrogression of the high pressure and whether any troughs or low pressure systems form in the resultant cold Northerly air stream. There is a 26mb spread in forecast surface pressure across the most recent GFS ensembles for New Years Day, and that spread widens to a 37mb spread for 2nd January.

So there is at least some potential for a cold and unsettled start to 2026. However, worth noting that blocking high pressure can often stay around longer than initially anticipated by the forecast models, so by no means certain that this high will shift very far by early January!

:: Webcams and Weather Stations

Lowther Hill: Leadhills webcam is online (24/7).

GLENCOE: All mountain webcams online and the first updated images will be around 8.15am. The mid mountain weather station wind vane failed due to nearby lightning. Windspeed and other parameters are OK.