Northern Cairngorms Blog & Mountain Info » The passing of Storm Chandra

The passing of Storm Chandra

27th January 2026

Cairngorm Mountain ski area was stormbound today. No surprise in the inhospitable conditions. Winds of 99 mph were recorded on the summit of Cairn Gorm at 1245 metres. Notably the data we receive covers 24 hours from 1200 ZULU/GMT, so I would not be surprised if there were higher gusts recorded in the afternoon. During this period the snow fall became more intense resulting in severe drifting.

A further intense period of snowfall overnight will bring continual drifting under storm force winds, after which a calmer day is expected with fresh to strong winds bringing a welcome change.

However, a complex avalanche situation will remain with much uncertainty as to the distribution of hazard. Inevitably, forecasts are based on observations to make sense of the prevailing conditions, combined with data and our own snow profiles, stability tests, and the weather forecast. But with poor visibility for the last five days at least, there has been limited opportunity to confirm or ground truth our assumptions.

Tomorrow, fresh to strong winds may allow sufficiently motivated, opportunistic and skilled people to return to the mountains. Prudent route choice and navigation will be an asset in poor visibility. Please do have a look at the Northern Cairngorms Avalanche Report with the forecast hazard for the 28th January 2026.

Unstable windslab will be present in steep wind sheltered locations such as coire rims, gullies and crag aprons. Also unstable windslab will be present on steep banks, convexities and in burn lines at altitudes between 500-800 metres. Although these will be in specific locations, they are likely to be around features such as the Chalamain Gap and the steep banks of the Allt Mor etc, where care will be required to evaluate what you [can] see. A further hazard worth mentioning that of a very firm icy snowpack where exposed to the wind, particularly above 800 metres.