Northern Cairngorms Blog & Mountain Info

Temperature Inversion

1st March 2021

Covid -19

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Another calm, dry and clear day with blue skies above the Cairngorms, but it seems on every horizon there was a bank of low lying cloud.

Photo taken from the Ptarmigan Bowl around 1100m altitude looking North-East.Â The low lying bank of cloud caused by the temperature inversion can be clearly seen.Â The dark anvil shaped cloud in the centre of the photo is actually smoke from ‘muir burn’.Â The smoke highlights the division between the warmer air up high and the cooler air below, almost like a glass ceiling not allowing the smoke to rise and dissipate.

Forecaster looking South across the Loch Avon Basin to the frozen Loch Etchachan and beyond to Derry Cairngorm. Note the temperature inversion was also present to the south of the Cairngorms.

Sun affected snow on the tor near Cairngorm Summit looked beautiful in the sunshine.

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