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Weekend Weather 4th-5th March '06
in association with GORE-TEX® fabrics
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Fact of the Week!
Highest 24-hour rainfall total was 279 mm at Martinstown,
near Dorchester, Dorset,
on 18 July 1955<
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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. For winter kit advice, see the links at the bottom of this article.
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Metcheck
for good overviews of localised areas based on a number
of meterological 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.
'The outlook into the weekend remains
uncertain with regards to detail but one thing is for sure
the cold weather will continue!' So there you go, chill
out.
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 o n Thursday,
Friday and Saturday. Worth wading through the increasingly
cluttered lay-out.
New the number of Scottish
forecast areas has been increased to give better coverage
and now includes the Southern Uplands in addition to the
main highland areas
It's winter all right with
temperatures well below zero up top, wind, particularly
north of the border, and a mix of snow showers, bursts of
sunshine and excellent visibility.
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.
Saturday 'Staying cold with
further snow showers, particularly for the north and west of
the UK. Sunny spells for most places, but sharp overnight
frosts.'
Sunday 'The cold weather will
continue. There will be plenty of sunshine, but snow showers
will drift down from the north. Widespread overnight
frost.'
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.
Saturday 'Mainly dry, sunny. Snow
showers over northern Scotland and N.Ireland.
Cold.
'
Sunday And again :-)
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
- Full service now up and running for winter with avalanche
and climbing condition reports for five major Scottish
climbing areas - Lochaber, northern and southern Cairngorms,
Glencoe and Creag Meagaidh.
The forecast for today, Friday ranges
from moderate to high depending on where you are, so it's
essential to get the latest forecast before heading out and
adjust your route / objectives accordingly.Check the latest
update for the relevant area before heading
out.
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Wasdaleweb
weather - Always worth a
loook just for the piccy from OM member Guy Newbold who
lives and works in Wasdale. See also the live webcam pics of
Scafell Pike and Great Gable.
The Wasdaleweb
Webcam now has a flashy new
camera for higher quality images and they looks great plus
there's now a new Scafell Pike web cam.
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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.
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Cold, snowy, good visibility.
Windchill especially in Scotland, snow may affect visibility at
times.
Verdict Proper winter with temperatures on
the tops well below zero, snow showers or more in most areas and
bright sunshine with excellent visibility forecast at times :-) Looks
like you can expect some windchill, especially north of the border
and, you'll need axes and crampons in areas where there are full
winter conditions. Wrap up warm and make sure you know what you're
doing, but it looks like being a cracking winter weekend. Enjoy :-)
For winter kit advice, see the links at the bottom of this article.
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.
