I was wondering what this winter would be like. Is it going to be snowy/windy or like last winter, no wind at all? Normally the snow arrives around October but it’s forecast down to 950m up here on Sunday! 1050m further south but snow in August? Wonder what indeed the winter will be like.
Last night we went for a walk down to the pier as it was very calm and sunny with just enough of a gentle breeze to blow away the midges.
Today it’s blowing Force 11. You normally only get those winds in the winter but this is the second big storm we’ve had this summer.
Tuesday, March 23rd. Dawn noticed the first Skylark in Sleat on Skye. This morning I drove under two Lapwings at Broadford. Such a beautiful sound. The sound of warm summer days on high rolling moorlands in the Eastern Highlands. That’s where I saw the most lapwings when I was a student over that side of the country. There were huge numbers of them at the well on the way up Mount Keen. Long may I remember those hot days of youth and freedom!
The West Highland Railway was closed between Tyndrum and Bridge of Orchy for quite a while round about the end of February/beginning of March this year due to a couple of avalanches on Ben Odhair that covered the line and the West Highland Way. On the way back from Nephew Conrad’s christening in Glasgow, I took some pics from the bus.
You can see all the pics here.
Now it’s a real winter! After the recent dump of 2 feet of snow, mainly in the east, the Scottish Avalanche Information Service have issued a statement about the conditions and they’re not looking too good at the moment. Basically, the high winds and heavy snow from the NE have made the entire mountain mass of the highlands one huge avalanche area with natural avalanches bound to happen almost anywhere above 300m. The latest forecast says it all. Note the “considerable” risk (i.e. avalanches will occur) on all leeward slopes above 300m:
Be careful out there!
Above 100m the air is haemorrhaging snow. Thick wet flakes and the forecast is for 50cm (a foot and a half!) for the east. I also heard a sound I haven’t heard in ages. The sound of the wind roaring through skeletal branches making trees dance macabre jigs and reels to a backdrop of grey curtains of snow across the Sound of Sleat, hiding the mainland. White horses roar down the black sea. It’s a day to be indoors at the fireside. It’s been a real winter this year but the consequences are lethal with another avalanche on the Buachaille last night and distressing as thousands of deer starve to death on the hills. There’s no escape from the weather either as below 100m is that horrible horrible freezing rain. It soaks you and the wind removes any remaining warmth lingering in your sodden gear. If the spring is true to form the deer population is going to take a real hammering. Walkers have been urged not to approach wildlife as even the birds are hunkering down, trying to preserve what little food stocks are out there. (more…)
This is the third day in a row we haven’t been able to get out of the village. Each night it dumps another couple of inches on the frozen ground. The crofters have moved the sheep onto the hill as there’s more food for the black faces up there although the others are starting to suffer. It looks beautiful but the lack of food is starting to show on some of the sheep.
Snowed in twice in a week! This is the frozen north, it usually doesn’t snow that much as we’re on the coast but snowed in again we are! Couldn’t ask for a better view though.
I’m doing the OU short course, Understanding The Weather and the assignment requires me to wait for a front to be forecast passing the area and then log the weather at hourly intervals throughout the day. Well, I couldn’t have asked for a better weather system than this!
A small warm front ahead of a cold front or perhaps occluded depending on how it pans out. Around 11:30 this morning I took this vid of Beinn nan Carn:
Definitely a front!
This morning I went for my hilly (150m) 10K run round Letir Fura. Fantastic sunny morning with very little cloud, lots of blue sky(e) and sea and the Cuillin rising in the distance. A nice cooling, light northeasterly kept me from overheating on the way out. It’s a superb little circuit, just the right length at 1hr 20mins (it is hilly and very steep in places on the hill track) and the views are always superb. The last climb up to the summit bench is always hard but that’s where you pop out of the forest and the Sound of Sleat and Knoydart burst upon you. Out of this world! Feel so good after this circuit. Really must do it more often.
