Weekend Mountain Weather Outlook
Winter looks like taking a backward step at the weekend with slightly milder temperatures forecast. Walter the Weathergirl checks out the prospects for the UK's main mountain areas.
Posted: 26 January 2007
by Walter the Weather Girl
|
Weekend Weather
27-28 January, 2007
|
Fact of the Week!
The world's largest snowflake was 38 cm wide and
20 cm thick. It fell on Fort Keogh, Montana, USA on 28
January 1887.
|
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.
|
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: 'Behind this front,
so the milder air pushes in, wrapped around the flank of the
high pressure area out to the West of the UK.
'This area of high pressure is then
expected to build in across the UK during the weekend and
into next week bringing a more settled, but still chilly
feel to the weather as we end January.'
So, settled but chilly then.
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.
|
|
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: Buffeting winds on both
Saturday and Sunday with drizzly showers likely on Saturday
and patches of light rain possible on Sunday. The odd patch
of sunshine in most areas, but also periods of poor
visibility, particularly in the rain.
Temperatures are mostly above freezing
point on the tops, but the wind chill will make things feel
much colder in the wind. The one exception is the Peak,
where for once being further south means colder temperatures
- from -1 to -4 on the tops and just above freezing point in
the valleys, snow showers but bright sunshine and excellent
visibility.
Check individual forecasts for
specifics.
Check individual forecasts for specific
details. Arguably the best mountain-specific forecast out
there by a way.
|
|
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 'Much of the UK will be
dry. There will be some sunny spells, especially across the
more southern and eastern areas. Rain for northwest Scotland
later. Northwesterly breeze picking up.'
Sunday 'Further rain for the
northwest of Scotland. Elsewhere, plenty of dry weather with
some bright spells. Mild, but windy. The northwest wind
being particularly gusty in eastern Scotland and northeast
England.'
BBC specific areas:
Fort
William / Kendal
/ Betws-y-Coed
/ Aviemore
/ Skipton
/ Glossop
(Peak) / Brecon
/ Milton
Keynes.
|
|
Met
Office . See weather for
the next
week.
Saturday 'Some showery rain is
likely across parts of northern and western Scotland, and
northwest England. Mainly dry and bright elsewhere with the
best of the sunshine across eastern England.'
Sunday to Tuesday
'Many places dry on Sunday and Monday, if
rather cloudy at times. Some rain, however, is likely to
affect western Scotland. Heavier rain reaching Scotland and
Northern Ireland on Tuesday.'
Welsh Mountain Forecasts Useful
online forecasts covering the National Park areas of
Snowdonia
- and the Brecon
Beacons.
|
|
Scottish
Avalanche Information Service
- Daily avalanche forecasts are back.
Forecast for today, Friday is '3' or
'considerable' in most Scottish areas with some windslab and
consolidatilon problems where there's deeper snow and
cornices and rising temperatures. Check the latest forecast
before heading out.
|
|
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.
Recently overhauled so most cameras featured are actually
working :-)
|
Milder.
But windy.
Verdict Not as cold as recently, but
blustery winds and drizzly showers will still mean that things feel
cold on the tops. Some sunshine, but also periods of poor visibility.
The one exception seems to be the Peak which is forecast to have
sub-zero conditions and bright sunshine, so head to Derbyshire for a
wintry experience :-)
Have a good one.
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.
Discuss this story
|
