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Weekend Weather - 22-23
December, 2007
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Fact of the Week! White Christmases
were far more common between 1550 and 1850 when Britian was
in the grip of a mini ice age, but the last white Christmas
was as recent as 2004 - so there :-)
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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.
About
Metcheck: good overviews of localised
areas based predominately 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.
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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Forecast
'Depression Sylvia (no, not your Auntie) is expected to bring some much colder weather across all areas over the weekend.
'Throughout Saturday and Sunday, the cold air will feed South with snow for Northern and Eastern coasts, inland it'll just be cold and bright. Some widespread, penetrating frosts on the cards too from Saturday night, perhaps as low as -10°:c across Central areas during the early part of next week.'
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Mountain Weather Information
Service
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About
the Mountain Weather Information
Service: 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. Scottish forecasts are seven days a week, the
Lakes are six days a week and the Peak and Snowdonia forecasts are
available three days, from Thursday through to Saturday. Check
individual forecasts for specific details. Arguably the best
mountain-specific forecast out there by a way.
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Forecasts
Snow showers are expected from the Highlands down to the Peaks throughout the weekend with a chance of lightning joining the fray as well. Winds could gust up to 50mph locally in the Highlands, and will be pretty blowy everywhere.
On the plus side, both days will be sunny apart from the flurries of snow, with cloud-free summits 80 - 90% of the time pretty much across the board.
Check specific forecasts for details.
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About
BBC Weather: 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.
BBC specific areas: Fort
William / Kendal
/ Betws-y-Coed
/ Aviemore
/ Skipton
/ Glossop
(Peak) / Brecon
/ Milton
Keynes.
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Forecast
Saturday: 'Much colder with a northerly wind and wintry showers in the north and east. Some accumulating snow is possible over the hills in the north.'
Sunday: 'A cold day everywhere with a fresh northerly breeze and a significant wind chill factor. There will be some sunny spells but also some wintry showers cropping up almost anywhere.'
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Met Office Mountain
Forecasts
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About
the Met Office: The giants of weather
forecasting in the UK, the Met Office also provides mountain
forecasts covering five major UK mountain areas: Scottish
West Highlands / Scottish
East Highlands / Lake
District / Snowdonia
National Park / Brecon
Beacons National Park.
Detailed forecasts for each day are posted early
morning - 5 am - plus there's a short outlook section for the next
two days.
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Forecast
Saturday: Sunshine with occasional snow showers and temperatures of minus a few, but feeling bitterly cold when you take the wind chill into account. Visibility mostly good but deteriorating rapidly during showers.
Sunday: Even colder temperatures with freezing levels dropping from 600m to 500m in Northern England. Blizzard conditions at times, with sunshine in between.
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Met Office General
Forecast
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Forecast
'Much colder weather will spread southwards during Saturday and Sunday. Windier too with some sunshine but also showers and these turning to sleet, snow and hail.'
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 About
the Midge Forecast:
Innovative midge forecast covering the whole of Scotland and
complete with interactive map giving access to seven-day
forecasts for main Scottish towns. MIdge-heads can also take
advantage of extensive midge data which will be updated each
week.
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Forecast
Good news, no more midgies until the spring, the little
b********s are all dead or asleep or whatever it is they do
over Christmas 
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Scottish Avalanche Information
Service
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Forecast
Reports now running for Lochaber and Northern Cairngorms.
Risk this Friday is category 2 in the Cairngorms or 3 in Glencoe, but it's going up significantly with the extra snow that's forecast, so make sure you check the latest before you head out over the weekend.
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About
Web Cams: 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 :-) If you find one isn't or have a new
addition we should know about, please let us know.
Clear summits.
Cold and windy, perhaps with lightning.
Verdict If you've taken out your rock boots ready for a weekend of sunny cragging, put them straight back in the cupboard and get your crampons out instead.
After flirting with the idea of summer, the weather's decided it prefers wind and snow after all. Beware of the wind chill - and the gusts - if you're out on the hills on either Saturday or Sunday and as for temperatures: think negative.
It isn't all bad news though. If you're well-insulated and your hat's tied on tight, you could be in for a weekend of bright sunshine and clear views, so don't forget your camera.
And wherever you're going, 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.
