Christmas Mountain Weather Outlook
We check out the prospects for mountain weather over the festive season and the good news is that things are looking pretty good - watch out for classic inversion conditions :-)
Posted: 22 December 2006
by Walter the Weather Girl
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Weekend Weather
Christmas '06
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Fact of the Week!
The world's largest snowflake was 38 cm wide and
20 cm thick. It fell on Fort Keogh, Montana, USA on 28
January 1887.
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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.
They say: 'Into the weekend and
the fog continues to hang around Central, Southern and
Eastern areas as high pressure retains control, however from
Sunday, drier air will be drawn in from the South-east
bringing a possible respite to visibility problems for a
time.
Much of the UK starts with a cold,
crisp and frosty Christmas morning. Once again, mist and fog
will be a feature for some Central areas.'
Another good reason to live ooop north
;-)
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. Best mountain
weather forecast we know of.
They say: A tad blowy on the western
side of the highlands which may impede walkers high up in
some areas, but the good news is that continuing high
pressure means it's likely to be dry over the Christmas
period. High up there should be extensive sunshine and good
visibility but you can expect fog in the valleys. Very cold
overnight, so frozen ground early on likely, but
temperatures on the tops only around 3-8C, feeling colder
though thanks to wind chill.
Check individual forecasts for
specifics.
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.
If you want video, check out the BBC
WEATHER
PLAYER with a
selection of forecasts. They say a cloudy start on Saturday,
brightening later on. Plus lots of grey skies on
Sunday.
Saturday 'Fog patches will persist
in central and northern areas of England with patches in the
south and over southern Scotland. Some brightness will
develop in west Wales and eastern Scotland. Cold in foggy
areas..'
Sunday 'Little overall change with
the best of any brightness in the far southwest of England,
west Wales and the northeast of England. Fog will still be a
problem. Cloudy for much of Scotland and Northern
Ireland..'
BBC specific areas:
Fort
William / Kendal
/ Betws-y-Coed
/ Aviemore
/ Skipton
/ Glossop
(Peak) / Brecon
/ Milton
Keynes.
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Met
Office . See weather for
the next
week.
Saturday 'Extensive low cloud,
mist, fog and frost over most of England. Some bright or
sunny intervals, most likely in northeast Scotland, parts of
Northern Ireland, Wales and southwest England..'
Sunday to Tuesday
'Any changes will be slow. Fog, frost and
low cloud likely to continue over England and eastern Wales.
Brighter intervals elsewhere.'
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
- Daily avalanche forecasts are back for Lochaber and the
northern Gorms. Check for the latest info, at the time of
writing, avalanche forecast was '2' which is
moderate.
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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 - nicked?
You have to hope not ;-)
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Dry with good visibility on the tops - possible inversion
conditions.
Foggy in the valleys, icey early in the day thanks to overnight
frosts.
Verdict The high pressure over the UK which
is responsible for all that fog in central and southern areas looks
like hanging around. That means fog in the valleys, but it should be
dry and often bright higher up. Temperatures on the tops aren't low
for the time of year, but particularly in the western highlands, wind
chill will make things feel much colder, so shell clothing a must.
Frosty overnight. so ground may well be frozen early iin the
day.
It's classic inversion conditions with clear peaks
standing out over cloud-filled valleys and, possibly, warmer on the
tops than down below, so don't forget your camera :-)
Have a great Christmas, looks like a good one for
getting out on the hill.
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.
Discuss this story
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