Yup Iain, I read the OS map wrong, a capital 'I' on OS maps looks a lot like an 'l'! Wonder if the sign people made the same mistake...

Partly, I'm sure, Eddie. Another reason, I think, is that native English speakers can't seem to come to terms with a name starting with an 'I', followed by a 'u'. I can't think of one English example. You can see the same thing happen with Beinn Iutharn Mhor. The amount of times I've seen it spelt 'Lutharn' you wouldn't believe.

Anyway... back to snow! I find it difficult to believe, based on the cold weather we had for much of the month, but the mean maximum temperatures for May are in. I'd never have believed that the hot weather of late May could have made such a difference to the final figures. But, it appears it did.

That's a shock to me too. Just proves that averages are not always reflective of what actually happens.

Helen

A picture from David McSporran, taken 4th June. The sharp eyed amongst you will see a patch of snow on Beinn Ime: [www.flickr.com]

I can't decide if it's the same patch that normally sits just below the summit ridge, as shown in this photograph. [www.flickr.com] The iPhone doesn't let me see with as much clarity as I'd like!

In any event, the mountain will be holding the last snow on Lomond-side, as it usually does.

I made a detour to the largest patch on Ben Ime on the 5th June. I would estimate it at 20m x 10m with a maximum depth of 2 - 3m. The top 5-10cm was very soft with hard packed snow/ ice below.



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 01.09hrs Thu 7 Jun 12 by Retep.

The first photo shows 3 patches on Ben Ime from Ben Vorlich on the 4th June. Detailed photos (taken on the 5th) are of the lowest patch on the right.

The photos fail to show that the patch had a healthy convex shape. For scale the antler in the final photo hangs down 75cm.



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 00.56hrs Thu 7 Jun 12 by Retep.

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On 1st June the mountain with greatest snow cover was Beinn Dubhchraig (?) viewed from Ben Challuim.

Small snow patches were also present on:
The south summit of Ben Challuim
A hollow on east facing slopes below the summit of Meall Glas (Ben Cheathaich).
There were multiple small patches on the North and East faces of the Crianlarich Munros.


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Excellent information, retep. That's the first time anyone's been to the lower of the patches on Beinn Ime. Good depth, too, and it looks as though a mid-June melt date can be expected there. That's obviously the snow in David McSporran's picture. That's the latest I've seen snow lying on that hill for quite a few years. Of course, it could be that it's just gone unobserved, but I don't think so, as I keep tabs on it as far as possible every year.

I'm not sure if your picture in the post above was supposed to be Beinn Dubhchraig, but it's actually Ben Lui. Typically the snow lies there until early or mid June, occasionally late June. Looks bang on schedule! The cool, wet weather will help of course.

Some photos from Meall a' Bhuiridh on 3rd/4th:

[www.winterhighland.info]

Interesting patch in Island Rock Gully above the Haggis Trap:

[i690.photobucket.com]
[i690.photobucket.com]

Hello everyone,

First post for me - I've been a keen follower of Adam's annual snow patch reports in Weather magazine for many years and have kept an eye on this form for the last few years.

We had a trip to the Cairngorms on Monday 4th June (the time stamp on the pictures is a day out) and it was pretty wintry for early summer. At about 850m in Coire an t'Sneachda a hail shower quickly turned to heavy snow and thin snow lay above 950m or so.

This picture shows the Goat Track at about 1000m [i690.photobucket.com] and this one shows the view down towards Coire Dhomain from the rim of the plateau at the top of the Goat Track. [i690.photobucket.com]

The onward trip to Beinn Mheadhoin revealed a few snow patches with the best cover as usual on the east side of Ben Macdui. [i690.photobucket.com]

On the return trip we crossed Ciste Mhairead which was much smaller than previous photos on here have shown.

Keith
Banchory, Aberdeenshire

Meantime out west, still some really good snow on The Ben which should offer some genuinely agreeable skiing for a few weeks yet

With the snow down the back well consolidated and of good depth I'd stick my neck out and predict a survival year.


[flic.kr]

Excellent info, folks. Always nice when new contributors pop up out of the woodwork.

A cracker of a photograph from today by the ever reliable Gary Hodgson. The Catskin starting to take shape! [4.bp.blogspot.com]

Should have added that the patch in the gully in my photo is around 8-10ft from base to top - wasn't going down beside it to show scale just incase!

I noticed that the patch visible on Glas Maol from the Glenshee webcam on Saturday morning had gone but was there on Thursday