•England Club Fields

•Mountain Weather

•Mountain Forecast Discussion

•Webcams and Weather Stations

Limited beginner terrain on offer at the 3 Eastern areas, mainly on machine made snow. The Glencoe sledge park is open for family fun in the West and is included in the price of a chairlift ticket. No change before New Year with high pressure expected to see out the final days of 2025.

No change in the snow cover situation as High Pressure remains firmly in control of our weather, but there is increasing confidence that the high will retrogress enough to allow a significant change in the weather to a cold and unsettled theme for the start of the New Year!

Brightness was more widespread on Sunday than on Saturday, and in the clear air above the inversion very low relative humidity has been reported by the Met Office automatic weather stations on both CairnGorm and Aonach Mor. RH dropped to 2% on CairnGorm on Sunday afternoon and a number of hours of 1% reported on Aonach Mor, where raw station data points to the lowest value recorded being 0.65%. Any of these figures would be a UK record if verified.

Boxing Day saw the Lecht kick off their season with limited novice terrain from the Wren Magic Carpet, meaning all three Eastern areas are now able to offer limited snowsports. This afternoon / evening fan guns have been running intermittently as the temperature has yoyoed at the Lecht, but hopefully a sustained burst of snow making on the Robin run overnight. Snow making continues with the snow factory to top up the Wren Run.

On CairnGorm passes for the Daylodge level magic carpet can be bought for 3 hour AM or PM sessions or a flood light early evening session (3.30pm to 5pm). Day tickets are available, valid on the available uplift from first lift to last. There are some terrain park features out on the Ptarmigan Traverse and a couple of novice features by the lower beginner magic carpet for the floodlight session. The Funicular last train up is 3.30pm and last train down at 4.30pm. There is no skiable terrain from the funicular at this time, just access to the Polar Express and snow patches on the Ptarmigan Traverse. A couple of fan guns have been moved to the Ptarmigan Bowl, to attempt to reconnect the Ptarmigan Traverse to the tow when wet bulb temperature permits.

Glenshee has the Dink Dink and beginner rope tow operating. These have a good base of machine made snow. During the holidays pre-booking lift tickets is advisable due to limited slope capacity at present.

At Glencoe, the Sledge Park opened for the season on Saturday and is now open daily wind permitting. It is advisable to arrive before 2pm at the latest for sledging to get a decent amount of time on the hill. First chair up at 9am, last chair up at 3.45pm and last chair down at 4pm. White Corries Cafe at the base is now open 8am to 8pm daily.

The Nevis Range Gondola is also presently open daily (wind permitting) with the last gondola up at 3.45pm and last down at 4pm.

:: England Club Fields

The three Pennine Clubfields all enjoyed a November start to their season, with Allenheads and Weardale notching up the first lift served UK snow turns of the season. There has not yet been sufficient snow at Raise in the Lake District and all clubfields are currently waiting for new snow.

For both Weardale and Allenheads, you need to join the club with a season pass, these are still available for both at this time.

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/ .

:: Mountain Weather

At 7pm in the West at the Glencoe SSC hut at 850m the mid mountain temperature was +2.1°c with a dew point of -15.9°c, a light breeze at 2 gusting 4mph. At Base level it was -3.3°c.

The SAIS summit AWS on Aonach Mor was reporting +4.7°c with a dewpoint of -31°c. The Met Office station was reporting an East wind at 13 gusting 19mph. It was -1.8°c at 680m at the CIC Hut. At Tulloch Station (237m) the temperature was -8.1°c.

In the East the CairnGorm the Met Office Summit AWS reported +5.1°c with a NE wind at a mean of 8 gusting 10mph. Aviemore was at -6.1°c at 7pm.

The Met Office Cairnwell AWS (3061ft /934m) reported +3.8°c with a NNE wind at a mean of 10 gusting 17mph.

:: Mountain Forecast Discussion

High pressure remains the dominant feature of the weather for Scotland drawing in light to moderate winds from the East quadrant, though the wind will gradually swing round to more of a Northerly, drawing in colder air aloft, which will break down the recent inversion conditions over the next couple of days.

There is increasing confidence of a significant change in the weather arriving with the start of 2026, with much colder air aloft and strong winds from the North quadrant giving severe wind chill and potential for the Northern Highlands and areas where hills are exposed to coasts with onshore winds to see significant snow accumulations in early January.
The extent to which the snowsports areas benefit from this will largely depend on exact wind direction for convective showers, and whether troughs or fronts embed in the flow. The much colder air aloft and relatively mild sea surface temperatures have potential to drive significant convective activity and polar low formation is a possibility.

If the cold air comes in from slightly East of North, convective showers would start to make their way into the Northern Cairngorms from the Moray Firth, on the balance of model output at this time the Lecht looks it maybe the best placed of the ski areas to catch the most convective snowfall.

Back to the short term and the basic high pressure controlled pattern will see out 2025. The West Coast has the greater chance of more widespread brightness over the next couple of days, but still some pockets of inversion mist / cloud and varying levels here too. As colder air aloft starts to move around the high and the inversion begins to break down, more widespread brightness may be possible on Wednesday, before some cloud and possible snow flurries arrive during Hogmanay.

Monday will see the wind turn NE and it should be a widely sunny day in the West Highlands, frosty in the glens and sheltered corries, but above Munro Level expect +3 to +4°c is possible early in the day, but Munro Level temperature is expected to fall to -2°c by dusk. Wind speeds should be light around 10mph gusting 15mph, picking up to be around 15 gusting 25mph later in the afternoon. In the East cloud and hill fog will come into the Northern Cairngorms on the NE breeze with the SW sector of the Cairngorms seeing the most brightness.

Tuesday will see more widespread brightness as colder air aloft becomes established with the day starting with a light to moderate Northerly with -2 lowering -4°c at Munro Level. Wind will become light and variable before freshening late afternoon into the evening.

By Hogmanay cloud cover will be increasing with the risk of snow flurries and around -3 to -4°c at 900m. Moderate NW to WNW wind will Westerly and pick up becoming Gale Force by dusk, possibly Severe Gale Force into the evening.

New Years Day itself will see a mix of bright spells and increasing snow showers moving in on the brisk NW wind. Around 30 gusting 45 to 50mph with -5 lowering -6°c at Munro Level with the freezing level lowering the surface away from immediate coastal areas.

:: Webcams and Weather Stations

Lowther Hill: Leadhills webcam is online (24/7).

GLENCOE: All mountain webcams online and the first updated images will be around 8.15am. The mid mountain weather station wind vane failed due to nearby lightning. Windspeed and other parameters are OK.