Only Glencoe and Glenshee opening Tuesday.
Mild tonight with a period of frontal rain pushing in, turning showery by dawn with these turning wintry before brightening up from the West. Wednesday looks like a good day before stormy weather returns.
If you have been out on the slopes please send us photos to snow24 at winterhighland dot info.
This week has us back on the temperature roller coaster and this evening the summit temperatures will rise over the next few hours peaking in the early hours of Tuesday as frontal rain sweeps through. However by mid morning things should have dried up and by lunchtime should be brightening up in the West as a transient ridge builds in. This will give a fine day on Wednesday too, before stormy weather returns as the ridge is squeezed out by a deepening low south of Iceland.
Most importantly if you are planning a Tuesday slide, both CairnGorm and the Lecht are closed on Tuesday. CairnGorm will also be closed on Wednesday and wind will almost certainly prevent uplift on CairnGorm on Thursday too.
So for Tuesday the choice is Glencoe or Glenshee. Where to go comes down to ability level and where you are travelling from! For novices and early intermediates the only realistic choice is Glenshee, for more advanced riders Glencoe should have increasingly good crunchy spring snow on the open upper runs as things dry out during Tuesday, but this is only suitable for strong intermediate skiers up and advanced snowboarders, as the Rannoch Button is fairly tricky on the upper mountain.
At Glenshee the Dink Dink and Rope Tow area retains a full cover of machine made snow, as does the Plastic Slope Poma run. That is the only option as progression terrain at any of the areas, but though short, the gradient is quite a considerable step up from the Dink Dink. No other runs are open at Glenshee, and it will be closed Wed and Thu this week.
At Glencoe it will be a 6 to 8 minute walk to / from the Cliffhanger Chairlift to get up to the Rannoch Button. The Main Basin and Happy Valley (blue) will be open and the Spring Run (red) subject to surface conditions. Expecting good granular spring snow conditions on Tuesday. Things will start firmer on Wednesday morning, but should loosen up under bright overhead. No mid or Plateau runs are complete, the Wall is the most complete route for advanced riders to head down towards the Cafe.
The sledge park at the Plateau Cafe retains a full cover of machine made snow and is in excellent condition and should hopefully stay that way for the Easter Holidays with snow making continuing.
Nevis Range remains closed for snowsports. Conditions at the Lecht and CairnGorm will be reviewed after their respective mid-week closures.
All clubfields are waiting for new snowfall.
Please check club access rules / availability if not a club member / pass holder.
Weardale: https: //skiweardale.com/ .
Allenheads:
http://ski-allenheads.co.uk/ .
Yad Moss: https: //yadmoss.co.uk/ .
Raise: https: //www.ldscsnowski.co.uk/ .
Lowther Hills Ski Club will not operate the Lowther Hill Tow this season, however the summit webcam is in operation and will allow prospective tourers to view snow conditions on the fenced runs near the summit and the wider hillside with views down to Wanlockhead in clear weather.
At 6pm in the West the Met Office Summit Run AWS on Aonach Mor (1130m) reported +0.6°c with a South wind at 35 gusting 55mph.
CairnGorm Met Office Summit AWS (408ft/1245m) was at +2.7°c with a South wind at 63 gusting 80mph. The Cairnwell AWS reported +2.3°c at 3061ft, with a South wind at a mean of 48 gusting 61mph.
Get an early weather check with our webcams from around 6am.
Overnight a band of frontal rain will accompany a warm front that will lift Munro Level temperatures towards +5°c for a period. By dawn on Tuesday this should have eased to showers and these will turn wintry by mid morning before dying out from the West as a ridge of high pressure starts to build in which will give a widely fine day on Wednesday.
Initially strong winds will moderate by mid morning to be WSW 25 gusting 40mph in the West, gusts to 50mph in the Cairngorms. Speeds will then ease slowly but steadily through the afternoon. As showers fizzle out in the West, some brighter spells will develop either late morning or afternoon. Glenshee should be dry for most if not all operating hours with any remaining post dawn showers expected to quickly clear. Around +2 to +3°c at Munro Level middle period of Tuesday, lowering -1°c towards dusk from the West.
A transient ridge of high pressure looks to give a fine day on Wednesday, light NW or North winds in the East Highlands and light and variable winds in the West. Dry and bright for the most part, with the chance of a snow flurry in the Northern Cairngorms. Zero to -1°c at Munro Level.
Thursday in contrast looks awful, with Severe Gales or Storm Force winds accompanying a broad warm with the freezing levels above the summits, rain becoming heavy and persistent for a large part of daylight hours in the West. More showery precipitation in the East Highlands. round +4 to +5°c at Munro Level. Widely 40 to 50 with gusts 70mph plus, but likely to reach if not exceed 60 gusting 90mph in the Northern Cairngorms, gusts 80mph plus also likely on and around the Nevis Range mountains.
An abrupt drop in temperature as an active cold front sweeps in at some point Thursday evening, potentially with hail and lightning. We can put hope that the damage done to the remaining base is not terminal in the short term on Thursday, given days of colder weather look to be likely beyond.
By Friday expecting Munro Level temperatures to be around -2 to -3°c with clusters of snow showers sweeping on a Gale or Severe Gale Force Westerly, these will merge together into some longer spells of hill snow in the West. Going into Saturday the wind will veer NW, and if anything on balance is likely to be stronger than Friday on early projections.
Given the potential snow loss on Thursday and potentially very high winds continuing into the weekend, it is too early to be planning a weekend trip. At the moment do some snow dancing and hope if the wind howls through the weekend it brings a blizzard along with it!
Lowther Hill: Leadhills village camera at the Hopetoun Arms is online 24 hours a day. Lowther Hill Summit webcam is online from about 9am to dusk, but may go offline earlier on dull days as it is off the grid.
GLENCOE: All webcams are online and the first updated images will be from round 6am for an early weather check.