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

Heavy snow showers are rattling in from the West this evening, a fair bit of drifting going on as well as dusk came in as it is a fairly blustery Westerly. Since the temperature fell back during Wednesday Glencoe has received between 14 to 18cm of new snow from radar data on the upper mountain, less lower down, but snow now lying to below the Plateau level and even the Plateau fenced runs are starting to fill in with the drifting.

CairnGorm has had in the region of 20 to 25cm of snowfall, though getting less of the Westerly derived showers, it caught a dump on Wednesday when Glencoe just got rained on. Significant drifting on strong winds off the Cairngorm Plateau gave a further windblown top up for Friday morning after a superb day on the Gorm on Thursday.

Both will see further snow showers this evening, but these will fade later in the night as a weak and very transient ridge of high pressure sweeps through ahead of Storm Dave. A fine start to Saturday is expected, dry with some brighter periods and a relatively light SW breeze. Winds may lull almost completely for a time (particularly in the West) before backing South Easterly and increasing ahead of Storm Dave. With the wind being SE as it freshens, Glencoe looks like it should get the full lift served day out of Saturday, but there is a risk at least higher tows may have an early close on CairnGorm as SE winds are prone to accelerating off the Plateau.

Saturday is not a day for hanging around to see what happens though, first lift at both CairnGorm and Glencoe is scheduled for 9am, and those on the first lift get the most freshies and the best of the Saturday weather! Do keep an eye on updates though, just in case Dave throws a curve ball as there are still some significant differences across the various forecast models with regards Storm Dave. The worst of the wind is expected to be overnight, but where catches the brunt of it is still uncertain, so keep an eye out for flash Amber warnings being issued during Saturday.

Sunday is the day that currently has the biggest question mark hanging over it. Whether wind drops enough during the morning will not be the only factor affecting potential uplift on Easter Day, the degree of potential storm recovery work required depending on just how wild the night has been and how much snow has fallen will also be a factor. Easter Monday now looks like a fine day to get out and enjoy whatever snow Dave has thrown at the mountains.

A substantial amount of snow shoving in Happy Valley yesterday, means the bypass of the Haggis Trap is complete and the overnight snow and drifting meant fantastic surface conditions on the Main Basin and the Spring Run. With this evenings further snow / drifting the Wall should have improved further and it looks like the gaps in the route down Mugs Alley and Old Mugs Alley are filling in this evening. However it should be noted that unless there is considerable further drifting on mid mountain and Plateau fenced runs overnight, the riding on offer is only suitable for stronger intermediates and comfortable with the more challenging end of the blue terrain spectrum and above.

CairnGorm was definitely the location over the past 2 days if you are seeking easier terrain or wish to ride with a mixed ability group. With the fresh snow from Wednesday, the Top Basin terrain (various green trails), White Lady (red) and the Cas runs from the Traverse (green / blue) were all giving fantastic riding on Thursday. The M1 RaceTrack (red) is also doable, by exiting to the 105. The White Lady has a wide and deep base under the new snow and is in superb shape thanks to the persistent SE storms in January!

If you are prepared to do the leg work the Ciste Gully is complete to below the level of the former boardwalks, but this has rarely been open this winter and the West Wall Poma has not run since mid February. The SE winds which loaded both the Lady and the Ciste Gully having left virtually nothing on the West Wall and not much on the long since expired Poma uptrack.

Glenshee and the Lecht are currently closed for snowsports. At update the A939 Lecht Pass and the A93 Cairnwell Pass were open.

:: 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. The Plateau Cafe is open daily when the Access Chair is running.

For Saturday of Easter Weekend an early visit is recommended to get the best weather and there is a small risk of an earlier close being required due to the approach of Storm Dave.

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:: 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/ .

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:: Mountain Weather

At 6pm in the West at the Glencoe SSC hut (850m) the temperature was -1.5°c, no wind data is available. At the Top of the Access (671m) it was 0.0°c. At Base level (366m) it was +2.4°c with the wind at 8 gusting 25mph.

The SAIS summit AWS on Aonach Mor was reporting -3.8°c. The Met Office station was reporting a South West wind at 27 gusting 39mph. At the CIC Hut (680m) it was -0.4°c. At Tulloch Station (237m) the temperature was +3.3°c.

In the East the summit weather stations on CairnGorm reported -3.6°c, with a Westerly at a mean of 46 gusting 58mph. At Aviemore the temperature at 6pm was +3.2°c.

The Met Office Cairnwell AWS reported -1.5°c with a West wind at a mean of 39 gusting 53mph.

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:: Mountain Forecast Discussion

Storm Dave has been named by the Met Office for later Saturday into Easter Day, but the exact track, depth and speed of development still remains somewhat uncertain. A wide Yellow Wind warning remains, but this is only Yellow due to lack of clarity as to where the most intense wind impacts are likely to occur, thus an upgrade to Amber for some locations in the Yellow warning is likely. If some of the mesoscale model scenarios start to firm up, a Red Warning is not out of the question for somewhere! Keep a close eye on how the forecasts and warnings are updating!

This evening as mentioned above, snow showers continue to blow in from the West and will do into the early hours of Saturday before the showers fade away under the influence of a weak and transient ridge of high pressure ahead of Dave. Minus 4 to -5°c at Munro Level overnight, so snow falling to below the lower slopes of the ski areas. Westerly wind gusting over 50mph will give considerable drifting up to the predawn period when wind will become light to moderate SW post dawn.

An early start on Saturday morning will get the best of the weather, still under the influence of a departing ridge, snow showers will return late morning, starting to merge together before persistent frontal hill snow arrives in the afternoon, as it does so the wind will back SE and start to ramp up quickly. The full effect of this may not be apparent at Glencoe at first due to the SE direction, but severe mountain conditions will develop into the evening and overnight. If you are planning to camp / stay in a van at Glencoe over the weekend, be aware that Storm Force winds are possible overnight Saturday into Sunday on Rannoch Moor, not just on the mountain. Be prepared!

It will take a bit longer for the precipitation to set into the Northern Cairngorms, but because of the South East direction behind the departing ridge, wind is likely to start to be problematic sooner than at Glencoe, so at least higher tows may see an early close. At Munro Level expecting -2 to -3°c, rising a degree or two then falling back again, timing and peak of the freezing level uncertain as dependent on the track of Storm Dave. Wind SW 20 to 30, easing from the West for a time before backing SE and rapidly increasing, in prone locations perhaps abruptly 40 to 50 gusting 70mph, later risk 60 to 70 gusting 90 to 100mph or above.

There is a 3°c spread in GFS ensembles by dawn on Saturday and 6°c spread by Saturday afternoon for the 850hpa height temperature, which will be below the summit of higher Munros if the low passes over them!

Blizzard conditions for the mountains overnight into Sunday morning with Storm Force Westerly 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. Currently expecting -3 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.

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.

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:: 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.

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