Showery conditions continue…
12th March 2025
Snow showers continued through much of the day, although these started to dissipate later. Correspondingly, we suspect the Cairngorm plateau received slightly more snow than was forecast as these showers merged.
That said, the snow cover remains largely superficial, and although there is some drifting, deeper deposits are confined to wind sheltered areas. Some rime ice has developed due to a consistent North-North-Westerly wind direction.
The northerly flow will continue tomorrow, although snow showers are expected to disappear giving a dry day. However, the northernly winds are infamous for bringing poor visibility to the Northern Cairngorms and the nauseating “white out” conditions will most likely continue.
The Avalanche Hazard will remain Low for tomorrow, but the Northern Cairngorms area is still experiencing windslab development over 1000 metres on East, South-East, South and South-West aspects. Although isolated and avoidable, where accumulations gain depth they will continue to exhibit weaknesses.
Rime ice indicating a wind direction from the North-North-West. This post is close to Cairn Gorm summit at around 1100 metres AMSL.
The Cairn Gorm summit weather station appearing out off the gloom. Snow cover is quite limited despite the showers of the last 48 hours. In the foreground you can still make out the rime covered boulders, a feature across much of the plateau.
The warning sign on the weather station – Do not climb mast active radio antenna! This is difficult to read at the moment due to the presence of ice and rime. As the first front moved south in the early hours of Monday morning it was preceded by freezing rain. Rime build up followed later as temperatures fell. But due to the stable wind direction this isn’t present on all aspects. Incidentally, if you are interested in semiotics and the communication of avalanche hazard you might want to check out the publications of Gerit Pfuhl from The Arctic University of Norway…
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