Walter the Weathergirl invites you to take your partners for what looks like winter's last fling with all manner of nastiness forecast including white-out conditions and -22C chill on the tops...
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Weekend Weather 11/12 March '06
in association with GORE-TEX® fabrics
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Fact of the Week!
Longest lasting rainbow
three hours on 14 August, 1979 on the coast of Gwynedd,
North Wales
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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. For winter kit advice,
see the links at the bottom of this
article.
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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.
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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 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.
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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 '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.
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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.
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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.
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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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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.
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.
