General Situation // Scottish Ski & Winter Activity Report // Winterhighland

Since heavy frontal snow set in at Glencoe around 10 to 12cm has fallen at the base since it started lying down onto the moor mid afternoon, with more on the mountain, around 16 to 18cm from radar data, with between 20 and 24cm over the past 24 hours. It will get milder for a few hours with wetter snow on the hill in showers before heavier frontal snow returns with the cold front and a significant increase in wind speeds on Meall a Bhuiridh as the direction abruptly veers to WNW or NW, with potentially another 10 to 20cm of snow still to come!

There will be substantial drifting overnight, but the slight rise in temperature may mean what is already in place on the Plateau drifts less than what falls later, so hopefully that combination will mean daylight reveals big gains on Sunday morning!

Snow reached into the Cairngorms later in the afternoon, around 4-6cm had fallen towards the North of the range at update, but heavier falls are anticipated overnight. With the SE wind ahead of Storm Dave, wind was already starting to ramp up on CarnGorm at 6pm, so there should be substantial drifting of loose snow at height from Plateau areas into the snowsports this evening and overnight. To further top up the likes of the White Lady which retains a superb full width and deep consolidated base!

There is potential for Easter Day to bring fantastic freshies with even some sun between the snow showers bringing top ups, but it is also possible we could end up with a stormbound situation, such is the uncertainty relating to whether Storm Dave will move quickly through or slow down overnight. Glencoe will have the advantage of not having a high level access road to deal with and depending just how much snow falls in the East the funicular tunnel could also cause delays on CairnGorm, however if the wind is towards the rougher forecasts for Sunday morning then the Access Chair may be a no go at Glencoe!

Be prepared for an epic Sunday, but be prepared to abort journey, switch destination or have a plan B for the day! If you would rather less of a gamble, bank holiday Easter Monday looks set fair with sunny spells developing under partly cloudy skies and a moderate breeze.

Storm Dave is not the only rapidly deepening low in the Atlantic today, another even deeper low out West is sufficiently deep that it will through up a strong ridge, which could see parts of Strathspey and Moray flip from a white Easter Day to 18°c on Tuesday! Then cooler conditions with further mountain snow showers are expected later in the week.

Both CairnGorm and Glencoe intend to open on Easter Day for snowsports, just what if anything can be offered will have to be assessed both after first light and once the wind moderates enough to allow storm recovery work to commence. Hopefully at Glencoe it will be ski off the Access Chair and onto either the Plateau Poma or Rannoch Chair. Watch this space, the webcams and our Facebook for regular updates.

Glenshee and the Lecht are currently closed for snowsports. At update the CairnGorm Ski Road, the A939 Lecht Pass and the A93 Cairnwell Pass were open, but that may well change overnight!

:: Glencoe Sledge Park

The Sledge Park is full length and refreshed after the weather let up enough to push out piles of fresh machine made snow. Snowmaking continues round the clock. There are over 150 sledges to grab at the Plateau Cafe, sledging is complimentary!

It is advisable to arrive before 2.30pm at the latest for sledging to get a decent amount of time on the hill. First chair up at 9am, the sledge park is always quietest before lunch time. Last chair down scheduled for 4.30pm. Check Access Chair update on Sunday AM.

• top of page •

:: England Club Fields

All the club fields are waiting for new snow to be able to reopen.

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/ .

• top of page •

:: Mountain Weather

At 6pm in the West at the Glencoe SSC hut (850m) the temperature was -3.0°c, no wind data is available. At the Top of the Access (671m) it was -1.5°c. At Base level (366m) it was +0.3°c with a SW wind at 3 gusting 6mph.

The SAIS summit AWS on Aonach Mor was reporting -4.3°c. The Met Office station was reporting a South East wind at 33 gusting 45mph. At the CIC Hut (680m) it was -1.1°c. At Tulloch Station (237m) the temperature was +0.4°c.

In the East the summit weather stations on CairnGorm reported -4.5°c, with a South Easterly at a mean of 52 gusting 69mph. At Aviemore the temperature at 6pm was +0.4°c.

The Met Office Cairnwell AWS reported -1.3°c with a SE wind at a mean of 48 gusting 63mph.

• top of page •

:: Mountain Forecast Discussion

Storm Dave has brought heavy frontal snow into the West Coast mountains this afternoon, a milder blip this evening will see wetter snow before a very active cold front brings a switch in wind direction and a notable drop back down in temperature. Potentially anything from 10 to 20cm of further snowfall is possible overnight into Sunday morning for Glencoe and CairnGorm, with blizzard conditions for the mountains overnight into Sunday morning with Storm Force Westerly veering NW winds overnight.

Most of the model output moderates the wind quite significantly through the post dawn to mid morning period on Easter Day as precipitation will gradually become more showery. Expecting -4 to -5°c at Munro Level for much of Easter Day, so snow showers could be falling to fairly low levels by dawn on Easter. The question is how much will the wind moderate, on balance speeds around 30 gusting 50mph for Glencoe and 40 gusting 60mph on top of CairnGorm look most probable, with speeds trending down through the morning, but risk of higher gusts in the afternoon around heavy convective showers cells, some of which could build into thunderstorms.

A ridge behind the Easter storm now looks quite likely to give an increasingly fine holiday Monday under a strengthening ridge of high pressure thrown up by an even deeper Atlantic storm system that stalls out to our West. A dry day with sunny spells and wind speeds moderating further. Around -1 to 0°c at Munro Level on Monday morning, but the freezing level rising well above the summits overnight.

Perhaps into double figures at Munro Level on Tuesday, looks like overhead could be excellent to the North and West on a stiff SE wind, while more cloud spills into the Cairngorms from the SE during the day. At this stage it looks like it could be a cracking spring day at Glencoe, but a risk the SE winds could be strong enough to curtail or prevent uplift on CairnGorm.

Tuesday at this stage though is light years away given the short term uncertainty caused by Storm Dave and whether it will exit the jet stream and slow down its forward progression (but intensify more) before or after clearing the British Isles.

• top of page •

:: Webcams and Weather Stations

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

GLENCOE: All mountain webcams online and the first updated images are shortly after 6am (BST). Sledge Park camera streams overnight. The mid mountain weather station wind direction is not working, other data valid.

• top of page •