Easter Weekend Weather

Easter Weather 9th-12th April 2004 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 - see link further down the page - for a selection of hill cams. And whatever you do, have a good one. One general link: UK Weather which gives you the option of an hour by hour local forecast for anywhere in the UK as well as UK maps, a fishing forecast, ahem, and a lot more besides. Metcheck for good overviews as well as a mountain forecast that allows you to select indidual peaks throught the UK with a 72-hour graphic summary of conditions hour by hour. Generally reckon things looking postive for the Easter weekend Geoff Monk and Associates has a great downloadable mountain-specific forecast for Eastern and Western Highlands, Peak District and Lakes in PDF format. Drizzly Friday, Saturday looking up, winds light, but cloudy on Sunday and Monday but dryish Nevisport's mountain weather forecast covers the main UK mountain areas, updated twice a day and gives both a general overview and a three-day outlook with useful stats like wind speed, freezing levels and both valley and summit temperatures. Met Office outlook for Friday is dry, bright in south. Some rain in north. Saturday looks drier, light winds. For localised five-day forecasts use this page. Welsh Mountain Forecasts Excellent online forecasts covering the National Park areas of Snowdonia - and the Brecon Beacons. Part of a six-month trial now coming to an end but still up and running.

BBC Weather Site Friday Cloud, rain and drizzle across northern areas will spread slowly south across England/Wales during the day, although much of the rain will die out, and with many areas starting dry and sunny after fog clears. Saturday Mostly cloudy across the UK, but a few brighter spells in places. Patchy light rain and drizzle will persist over north and west Scotland and Northern Ireland but mostly die out over England and Wales. BBC specific areas: Fort William / Kendal / Betws-y-Coed / Aviemore / Skipton / Glossop (Peak) / Brecon / Milton Keynes.

Wasdaleweb weather - Always worth a loook just for the piccy from OM member Guy Newbold who lives and works in Wasdale. Guy's just invented Wasdale Web and you should be directed there automatically from the link above. The Wasdaleweb Webcam now has a flash new camera for higher quality images and they looks great plus there's now s a new Scafell Pike web cam. Scottish Avalanche Information Service - Check the latest avalanche and snow conditions forecast for the five main Scottish climbing areas before heading out. Forecast is mostly consdierable right now with expect thaw making cornice collapse likely, so watch yourself in the gullies folks.

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. Ho hum... Not dreadful And not inspirational either. Verdict A so, so sort of Easter weekend period with not too much rain or wind, but not a lot of bright sunshine and clear views to be had either... Enjoy it anyway, hey, the worst day in the hills is better than the best day at work ;-) 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.