Clouds Over Mountain Weather Forecasts

Anyone who's used the excellent Mountain Weather Information Service will be alarmed to read Cameron McNeish's online piece this morning saying that the continued existence of the forecasts is in doubt due to lack of funding.

The MWIS reports are uniquely detailed and focus entirely on mountain conditions, being put together by meteorologist and mountaineer Geoff Monk and a small team with similar specialist knowledge.

We'll stick our neck out here and say that in our opinion it's light years ahead of any other specialist mountain forecast we've seen, including the rather limited Met Office ones, and it's the one weather source we take really seriously.

As we understand it, Geoff's been running the service for the past three years on a shoe-string with the hope that Scottish government funding would materialise for an invaluable asset for mountaineers and climbers. So far, that funding hasn't materialised and the lack of funding means that Geoff may be forced to call a halt to the forecasts.

Apparently the decision on funding is due to be made shortly, so if you use and value MWIS, now is the time to send an e-mail saying just that to the Sport Minister, Stewart Maxwell, at the Scottish Executive.

His e-mail address is: Stewart.Maxwell.msp@scottish.parliament.uk

You can read Cameron's full piece at www.tgomagazine.co.uk/blogs and access the MWIS at www.mwis.org.uk