Unexpected snow
28th February 2025
There wasn’t any precipitation forecast for today so it was a surprise to see 2 – 3 cm of fresh snow with light drifting occurring above 800 metres. When on the hill what seemed like a passing shower, turned into an extended period of light snow. On checking the rain radar on return it suggested that this precipitation was localised and the hills in the northern part of the Creag Meagaidh area might not have had any at all. It’s quite possible that it was only around the Ben Alder hills. In the area of observations, unstable windslab was slowly developing on North to East aspects above 900 metres, but this may not have been the case in all locations.
A weakening front will move South-East across Scotland overnight, bringing snow above 900 metres to the Creag Meagaidh area during the early hours. There is uncertainty in the snow quantities and correspondingly there is uncertainty to the depth of fresh windslab accumulations.
Update 1735 – An SAIS Senior Forecaster who was out on Creag Meagaidh today has confirmed that there was no fresh snow in that area.
Ben Alder (left) and Sgòr Lutheran (right). This was the best view of the hills today as for most of the rest of time the tops were shrouded in cloud.
Walking through 2 – 3 cm of fresh snow heading up towards Lancet Edge on Sgòr Lutharn.
Maiden Buttress of the North Face of Ben Alder.
A passing snow shower … Loch Ericht can be seen in the distance.
The snow shower is still passing .. or perhaps a few have merged together. Looking down a North facing gully on Lancet Edge. Although the overall snow depth is shallow (shown by the visible grass), fresh snow was being blown into the top of the gully.
Coire na Lethchois and Long Leachas ridge on Ben Alder.
The South side of Beinn a’ Chlachair (1087m).
Comments on this post
Got something to say? Leave a comment
