•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 and is included in the price of a chairlift ticket.

If planning going sledging at Glencoe for Hogmanay, the best weather will be in the morning, with strengthening wind expected during the afternoon giving a severe wind chill and risk of a potential early closure of the Access Chairlift.

A beautiful bluebird penultimate day of 2025 means no change in the current limited snow cover, but Hogmanay will be a transitional day weatherwise as our long established high pressure will retrogress enough to allow a cold and unsettled theme for the start of the New Year!

Significant snowfall for some locations in the coming days with upwards of 30cm mentioned for higher terrain in the Met Office warning for Thu/Fri. At this stage the Lecht and CairnGorm look likely to catch the most snowfall over the coming days out of the five snowsports areas, but in these convective shower setups it can be hit or miss and exact wind direction can be critical.

Boxing Day saw the Lecht kick off their season with limited novice terrain from the Wren Magic Carpet, meaning all three Eastern areas are now able to offer limited snowsports. Some fan guns have been running intermittently as the temperature has yoyoed at the Lecht and Glenshee over the past 36 hours. The Lecht is working on the Robin beginner run and Glenshee is edging closer to getting the Plastic Slope Poma open, which would provide some progression terrain. Advisable to buy snowsports passes for the Lecht and Glenshee for Hogmanay in advance due to limited capacity at present

On CairnGorm snowsports passes are sold out for 31st Dec, 1st Jan and 2nd Jan, with only morning beginner session tickets currently available at the weekend. More terrain may be able to open with the forecast snow, but wind may prevent the Top Basin tows from running at the end of the week, so keep a close eye on the official report. Due to forecast wind speeds the twilight snowsports sessions on Hogmanay and New Years Day have been cancelled.

The Funicular is open with the last train up at 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. A couple of fan guns have been moved to the Ptarmigan Bowl, to attempt to reconnect the Ptarmigan Traverse to the tow when wet bulb temperature permits. Limited train tickets may be available on site from the ticket office.

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. Snow making continuing on the intermediate old plastic slope run.

At Glencoe, the Sledge Park is now open daily (wind permitting). It is advisable to arrive before 2pm at the latest for sledging to get a decent amount of time on the hill. 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 6pm in the West at the Glencoe SSC hut at 850m the mid mountain temperature was -3.7°c, wind at 7 gusting 14mph. At Base level it was -3.3°c.

The SAIS summit AWS on Aonach Mor was reporting -4.8°c. The Met Office station was reporting a North wind at 5 gusting 14mph. It was -3.6°c at 680m at the CIC Hut. At Tulloch Station (237m) the temperature was -6.0°c.

In the East the CairnGorm the Met Office Summit AWS reported -7.0°c with a NW wind at a mean of 23 gusting 36mph. Aviemore was at -6.1°c at 7pm.

The Met Office Cairnwell AWS (3061ft /934m) reported -4.6°c with a North wind at a mean of 11 gusting 19mph.

:: Mountain Forecast Discussion

A bluebird dusk across the Highland mountains on Tuesday, but Hogmanay will be a transitional day, not just as the old year slips away to be replaced by the new, but our resident high pressure which has given benign mountain weather through the Christmas period slips away too.

In the West cloud will start to build in pre dawn becoming overcast with hill fog on the higher slopes post dawn, with snow flurries arriving on a strengthening West to WSW wind. The best of the day will be in the morning, with wind reaching Gale Force before dusk, giving a substantial windchill even if the Munro Level temperature will lift from around -4 to -1 to 0°c for a time, before falling back to -3 to -4°c into the evening. Westerly 15 gusting 25mph in the morning, will from late morning or lunchtime increase progressively to 40 gusting 50 to 60mph by or soon after dusk.

In the East any early bright or sunny spells are more likely to cling on longest in the Southern Cairngorms, which should day dry until after dusk. Snow showers reaching the Northern Cairngorms late afternoon. Temperatures similar to the West, but wind increasing towards 50 gusting 70mph on the Cairngorm Plateau by or during the evening.

As we start 2026 wintry conditions will dominate the Highland weather as we move through New Years Day and into Friday, with a strong northerly airflow bringing very cold air and frequent snow showers. A yellow weather warning is currently in place for Thursday and Friday. Temperatures at 900 m will be well below freezing, with the freezing level lowering to the surface away from immediate coastal terrain by afternoon on New Years Day.

In the West Highlands, winds will be strong to Gale Force North Westerly, around 35 to 40mph with gusts to 50 to 60mph. With a Munro Level temperature around -4 lowering -5°c there will be a severe windchill that makes conditions feel as cold as -20°c on exposed terrain.

Visibility will be highly variable, excellent in clearer spells between showers but very poor in falling or blowing snow, best of any brighter periods further South in the West Highlands towards Glencoe.

Over on the eastern side in the Cairngorms, Thursday is similarly cold and wintry. Temperatures at Munro Level -4 lowering -6°c from the North by late afternoon. Although some dry intervals and clearer visibility are possible between snow showers further South, the Northern Cairngorms could see the snow showers begin to cluster together into some longer periods of snowfall.

By Friday 2nd deeper cold aloft will have brought the Munro Level temperature down to around -7°c, freezing at all levels. The cold air aloft moving over still relatively warm sea surfaces will drive convective precipitation, exact wind direction will determine where sees the most snowfall, and the unstable airflow is likely to see the formation of troughs or fronts which will bring near constant snowfall onto mountains exposed to the onshore wind. These are most likely to be the hills of the Northern Highlands and the Northern Cairngorms, the latter catching convective showers moving in from the Moray Firth.

Wind at Munro Level will be around 30 gusting 45mph, but 55mph in and around heavier shower cells. Risk of thunderstorms will give an additional hazard to appalling to zero visibility in snow at height.

For the West Coast ski areas on Friday precipitation is expected to be more showery with some bright or sunny spells intermixed.

Into the weekend and Saturday is expected to see frequent snow showers continue, with visibility often reduced to near zero in precipitation or drifting snow. The Lecht and CairnGorm again are likely to see the most snow showers out of the ski areas.

A significantly cold and wintry start to the New Year is in prospect, potentially upwards of 50cm of snow could fall in some upland locations by the start of next week.

:: 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.