•England Club Fields

•Mountain Weather

•Mountain Forecast Discussion

•Webcams and Weather Stations

Limited beginner terrain on machine made snow is due to be open this weekend at CairnGorm and Glenshee, along with the Glencoe sledge park in the West. Prebooking of snowsports tickets recommended due to very limited capacity. Insufficient natural snow for any other terrain.

Limited lift served snowsports got underway once again on CairnGorm on Friday, but is currently limited to just the lower of the 2 beginner magic carpets outside the Daylodge. While things at the top of the mountain are turning white again, fewer snow showers have reached the Northern Cairngorms compared to the West Highlands and there has been no meaningful improvement to the patchy cover in the Top Basin so far.

With just the novice area open and with limited capacity, snowsports tickets are being sold for 3 hour morning and afternoon sessions, with evening sessions if overhead / wind speed suitable.

Glenshee will kick of their 2026 winter season on Saturday with the Dink Dink and beginner rope tow operating. These have a good base of machine made snow and snow making will turn to the Plastic Slope Poma area once the Dink Dink has a full width cover. The Baddoch Chairlift will run for access to the Cairnwell Cafe at the weekend, but not for snowsports. There is a light dusting of snow down to carpark level, but no significant new snow accumulations as showers have been rather scattered.

The West Coast has seen much more precipitation over the past 24 hours, but the freezing level has rather been all over with it. In theory somewhere in the region of 10 to 14cm of new snow has fallen at height on Meall a Bhuiridh, while Aonach Mor that figure is around 14 to 18cm. However this was only consistently snow on the top half of higher terrain, and was blasted in on very strong winds. Above 900m on Aonach Mor the Summit Run fences and the upper Goose are filling well, in some places drifts are well up the snow fences.

Snowmaking on the beginner area is also underway at the Lecht where the plan is to kick off the season on Boxing Day.

At Glencoe things are starting to fill in on the upper mountain, but only a slushy dusting of natural snow at the bottom of the middle runs onto the Plateau level. A good deal more snow is required to get anything in condition for lift served riding, though it is always worth bearing in mind, anything before mid January is historically a bonus at Glencoe given the nature of the terrain above the Plateau!

Fairly hefty snow showers and strong gusty winds overnight and through Tuesday left some new deeper deposits at height in the West and a dusting down to around the top of the respective west coast access lifts.

At Glencoe, the Plateau Cafe and the Sledge Park and due to open for the season on Saturday 20th Dec. First chair up at 9am, last chair up at 3.30pm and last chair down at 4pm. White Corries Cafe at the base is open 8am to 4.30pm at present.

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 8pm in the West at the base level at Glencoe it was +5.8°c with a SE wind at 11 gusting 34mph.

The SAIS summit AWS on Aonach Mor was reporting -0.6°c. The Met Office station was reporting a South West wind at 34 gusting 60mph. It was +0.9°c at 680m at the CIC Hut. At Tulloch Station (237m) the temperature was +6.2°c.

In the East the CairnGorm the Met Office Summit AWS reported -1.8°c with WSW wind at a mean of 46 gusting 71mph. Aviemore was at +4.5°c at 8pm.

The Met Office Cairnwell AWS (3061ft /934m) reported +0.3°c with a Westerly wind at a mean of 32 gusting 45mph.

:: Mountain Forecast Discussion

Strong gusty winds expected to turn S through South East on Saturday, so Glencoe should be OK for the Access Chair on current projections, but there SE winds often spell trouble at Nevis Range. Check the latest lift status AM.

Remaining high level snow showers in the West are expected to gradually fade overnight, much of Saturday should largely stay dry, but a few light snow flurries moving around. Occasional brighter interludes, but mostly overcast, higher cloud bases towards the North. Around +1 to 2°c at Munro Level, with fairly low lapse rates. The freezing level around the 4000ft contour. South backing SE winds generally 25 gusting 35 to 40mph, but risk 45 gusting 60mph plus through the Nevis Range mountains.

In the East a fairly solid cloud sheet is likely towards the South of the Cairngorms, but around the Northern edge of main range some weak sunshine is expected. Largely if not completely dry, but the occasional flurry possible from areas of thicker / lower cloud. Wind generally 25 gusting 40mph, but risk 50 gusting 60 to 70mph on and downslope of the Cairngorm Plateau at times, tending to moderate somewhat late morning, but risk freshening again post dusk. Between +1 and +3°c at Munro Level middle of the day.

Post dawn Sunday should see the SE wind back ESE and later Easterly and tending to moderate somewhat as it does so. This will bring some light high level snow showers into the Cairngorms, with the Munro Level temperature around +1°c. Higher tops likely to be shrouded in cloud with higher bases towards the NW of the main ranges.

Some snow flurries might make into the West Highlands, but the best shot of some brighter skies is close to the West Coast with the ESE wind. Otherwise overcast. Around +1°c at Munro Level with a moderate ESE wind.

Rinse and repeat for Monday, though a risk winds will veer SE and strengthen for a period in prone areas before falling light and variable either Monday evening or overnight. The days leading up to Christmas look likely to see high pressure build in strongly over Highland Scotland, but the exact orientation of the high will have potential to significantly change the day to day weather for a given location. As if to illustrate this point, at lunchtime on Friday the Met Office MOGREPS ensemble suite had a 16°c spread in temperature at the 850hpa level for dusk on Christmas Eve, whereas the ensembles showed very strong support for a significant rise in pressure!

At this stage the balance of numerical weather model output favours high pressure remaining in control of the weather throughout the festive period. This is indicative that the overall snow situation is unlikely to change significantly for better or worse until early January unless the forecast models are way off the mark, which is of course possible!

:: Webcams and Weather Stations

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

GLENCOE: Some mountain webcams online and the first updated images will be shortly after 8am. The sledge park camera is online 24/7. Part of the mountain network is offline along with mobile comms following lightning strikes on the hill in the early hours of Thursday, this is affecting several camera views and weather stations.