The mountain weather prospects for the May Bank Holdiay weekend checked out by the lovely Walter. Will it be hot, dry and sunny? Erm, it's a Bank Holiday you know...
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Weekend Weather 29 April -3 May
'06
in association with GORE-TEX® fabrics
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Fact of the Week!
A tornado's spinning speed can reach up to 300 mph.
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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.
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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.
Saturday looks best in central areas,
says Metcheck, with clouds pushing in from east and west.
Sunday, they say 'things start to go wrong' with a front
moving in from the west and Monday, they reckon, is going to
be rainy.
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 on 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
Saturday the best day all round with
breezy conditions and lots of sunshine likely, Sunday might
cop the odd shower but otherwise pretty decent. On Monday,
says MWIS a rather complex area of low pressure will develop
with low cloud and patches of rain and drizzle, but there's
a chance that western Scotland will stay mainly dry. Bear in
mind that it will be cool on the tops with possible frost
early on and temperatures between 2C and 5C high up, so
don't go thinking it's summer just yet...
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 'Chilly to start with,
but early sunshine paving the way for a bright and mostly
dry day. A few scattered showers will appear later, but
there will be some good sunny spells too. Still chilly in
the east in the wind.'
Sunday 'More cloud with rain
threatening eastern England, and another front bringing rain
late in the day to westernmost areas. In between in should
stay dry, but increasingly cloudy. Feeling a bit
cooler.'
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. See weather for the
next
week.
Saturday 'Increasingly cloudy over
eastern England, with some rain later. Dry, sunny spells
elsewhere.'
Sunday Slightly cooler with some
rain in the east. Cloudier than Saturday.
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
- The last daily avalanche forecast for the season has been
and gone. In the winter there are avalanche and climbing
condition reports for five major Scottish climbing areas -
Lochaber, northern and southern Cairngorms, Glencoe and
Creag Meagaidh. But we don't want to think about that for a
while yet ...
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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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Saturday and Sunday looking decent enough, dry with sunny spells.
Monday could take a turn for the worse.
Verdict Well, it's a Bank Holiday weekend,
so what did you expect? Actually Saturday looks pretty decent in a
dry, sunny spells, breezy cool on the tops sort of way, Sunday
similar but more overcast, then if the forecasters are right - when
was that again? - Monday may well be wet and changeable. We'd plan to
get out Saturday / Sunday on the basis of the forecasts, when things
should be pretty decent. Bear in mind though, that it won't be
blistteringly hot up top with the MWIS hinting at temperatures
between 3 and 5 degrees C. Have a good one and pray for dryness :-)
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.
