Weekend Mountain Weather Outlook
We look at the prospects for this weekend's mountain weather and it looks like snow's on the way along with some serious wind chill particularly north of the border.
Posted: 10 November 2006
by Walter the Weather Girl
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Weekend Weather
11/12 November '06
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Fact of the Week!
The greatest recorded snowfall in a single day was the
75.8 inches recorded in Silver Lake, Colorado in April 1921.
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Our regular Friday round-up of what's
in store for the weekend. Just check the links for the relevant
weather forecasts and if you want to know how things look in a
particular area right now, check out the OM
web cams page for a selection of hill
cams. And whatever you do, have a good one.
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Metcheck
for good overviews of localised areas based on a number
of meteorological models. Loads of quirky options for stuff
like rain forecasts plus offbeat, leftfield weather
generalisations. Get stuck in and have a browse, there's a
lot on this site.
They say: 'Back to Friday, and
a frontal system will push into North-western areas during
the morning with some heavy bursts of rain for higher areas
across Western Scotland, Cumbria and later Western Wales and
the South-west.
'The front will clear the UK during
the early part of Saturday morning but in a brisk Northerly
airstream, temperatures will struggle to rise. Snow also
likely for higher ground in Scotland during Saturday.
'Sunday will see temperatures on the
rise once again. Showers developing widely across Western
parts, more broken sunshine for Central and Eastern
areas'
So, cold on Saturday with possible snow
in Scotland, wamer on Sunday.
You can check out individual areas or dig
a bit deeper for the Mountain
Forecast page or
the Climbing
Forecast page. The
Seven-Day
Charts give a handy
overview too.
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Mountain
Weather Information
Service has great
downloadable mountain-specific forecasts for NW, W and SE
Highlands, Cairngorms, Southern Uplands, Peak District and
Lakes in PDF format. Plus a Snowdonia forecast. The Peak and
Snowdonia forecasts are now restricted to weekend forecasts
and go out on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Best mountain
weather forecast we know of.
They say: Seriously windy on Saturday,
particularly in Scotland where gusts of up to 70mph are
possible making walking difficult high up. You can also
expect snow showers in most mountain areas with the
possibility of white out conditions high up. Temperatures
will be just below freezing on the tops, but the intense
wind will mean it could feel as low as minus 19C directly in
the wind.
Things improve a little in some areas
later on Sunday, but still possible snow showers and high
winds particularly in the east.
Check individual forecasts for specific
details. Arguably the best mountain-specific forecast out
there by a way.
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BBC
Weather Site uses Met
Office data, but more user friendly. Just been revamped for
the summer, weird stuff but easy access to a lot more
information including rain forecasts, cloud, wind,
temperature, visibility etc. Nice. Localised forecasts
accessible from the same page.
If you want video, check out the BBC
WEATHER
PLAYER with a
selection of forecasts. They say a cloudy start on Saturday,
brightening later on. Plus lots of grey skies on
Sunday.
Saturday 'Scotland, Northern
Ireland and northern England very windy with gales and
showers, wintry in far north. The rest of England and Wales
will have a largely dry and bright day with some spells of
sunshine.'
Sunday 'Eastern parts of England
and Scotland will be dry and bright with sunny spells.
Wales, Northern Ireland and the rest of England and Scotland
will be cloudy with outbreaks of rain. Lighter winds for
all'
BBC specific areas:
Fort
William / Kendal
/ Betws-y-Coed
/ Aviemore
/ Skipton
/ Glossop
(Peak) / Brecon
/ Milton
Keynes.
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Met
Office For localised
five-day forecasts use this
page. See weather for the
next
week.
Saturday 'Fine and dry in south.
Rather cloudy, showery and windy in north.'
Sunday N/A
Welsh Mountain Forecasts Useful
online forecasts covering the National Park areas of
Snowdonia
- and the Brecon
Beacons.
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Scottish
Avalanche Information Service
- The last daily avalanche forecast for the season has been
and gone. In the winter there are avalanche and climbing
condition reports for five major Scottish climbing areas -
Lochaber, northern and southern Cairngorms, Glencoe and
Creag Meagaidh. It won't be long...
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OUTDOORSmagic
web cam page Links to all the UK
mountain web cams we're aware of. If there's one that we've
missed, please drop
us a line and we'll add it to the
page. Good for getting a general idea of what the snow
situation's like, if the sun is shining, whether there's
anywhere to park in Coniston etc. Check the image you're
viewing is up to date as they often seem to go down.
We'll overhaul this page shortly as some of the links
aren't functioning or the cameras have disappeared - nicked?
You have to hope not ;-)
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Dry in the south.
Snow, wind chill, hello winter :-)
Verdict Saturday looks positively wintery
in the mountains, particularly north of the border. High winds and
snow showers will make things positively gnarly up top with possible
white out conditions in some areas and a wind chill 'feel' as cold as
minus 19C. Slightly less gnarly on Sunday, but still some biting
winds and the odd snow shower, particularly in eastern Scotland if
MWIS is to be believed.
Insulation for the cold and good shell clothing to
deal with that winds highly advisable. Be wary of exposed ridges with
gusts of up to 70mph expected, things could get
interesting.
Have a great weekend :-)
Obvious Disclaimer Hey come on, we all know
mountain weather's unpredictable, and while the above forecasts and
links are a guide to what the weather may do, remember that mountain
areas also tend to generate their own conditions, temperatures are
much cooler up top than in the valleys and conditions can be totally
different from down in the valleys.
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