Weekend Weather Outlook

Weekend Weather 11/12 March '06 in association with GORE-TEX® fabrics

Fact of the Week! Longest lasting rainbow three hours on 14 August, 1979 on the coast of Gwynedd, North Wales

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.

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. 'Risk of some significant snowfall for Northern England and Scotland, especially over higher ground. The milder air will eventually push across all parts by the end of Sunday turning any snow back to rain, but for a time this weekend there could well be some significant snow.' So yes, you may get snowed on, but it won't last. 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 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 Proper serious nastiness on Saturday north of the border and in the Lakes with high winds and possible blizzard conditions with whiteouts possible. Sub-zero on the summits, but the windchill will make it feel closer to -22 C in some areas... Ouch. Things milding up and the snow turning to rain and drizzle late on Sunday, but mucho gnarliness in prospect 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. Saturday 'Generally rather cloudy with some light rain. More persistent, heavyrain will spread east during the afternoon, turning to snow inland.Cold.' Sunday 'Snow likely for a time in Scotland, northern England, Midlands and East Anglia. Elsewhere rain which will eventually override the snow.' BBC specific areas: Fort William / Kendal / Betws-y-Coed / Aviemore / Skipton / Glossop (Peak) / Brecon / Milton Keynes.

Met Office For localised five-day forecasts use this page. Saturday 'Generally rather cloudy with some light rain. More persistent, heavy rain will spread east during the afternoon, turning to snow inland. Cold.' Sunday And again, turning milder later :-) Welsh Mountain Forecasts Useful online forecasts covering the National Park areas of Snowdonia - and the Brecon Beacons.

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 comsiderable depending on where you are, however the new snow on Saturday is going to change that 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.

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.

Snow.
Wild, windy, possible blizzard conditions and probably poor visibility :-(

Verdict Could be winter's last fling with posisble blizzard conditions, serious windchill and poor visibility forecast particularly on Saturday. Things are reckoned to get much milder later on Sunday, but overall it looks like a proper gnarly weekend, so make sure you're well kitted out and know what your're doing if you're heading out.

For winter kit advice, see the links at the bottom of this article.