It's back! Everyone's favourite summer-snow thread is slightly later than last year, but because it's been a fairly run-of-the-mill winter so far there seemed little point in starting in January.

My overall take on the snow situation this year is that it's looking pretty average. There have been no real exceptional snow-fall events, or thaws. The weather in January and February has been bang-on the 1981-2010 mean in terms of maximum daily temperatures and precipitation.

It seems to me that the cover present on the hills just now is also pretty standard. There aren't any areas that I've seen which have huge quantities, but neither are there areas giving cause for concern. This picture of Ben Nevis (original here) from a couple of days ago shows where we are. Not as much as I'd like to see, but there's still a way to go.



As ever, please post up your reports on here, and happy searching!

Trip up Ben Lawers yesterday in sublime conditions, despite the low cloud across much of the central Highlands.

There's a lot of snow, given that it's mid-March. However, I'd like to see more! [www.flickr.com]

There hasn't really been a lot of snow this Winter as can be observed with what is left on the Lower Slopes at the Ski Areas !

Hope your talk goes well Today.

A fine selection of photographs showing the remaining snow on Corserine and Merrick in the Galloway Highlands. Still a bit of life left here.

[www.walkhighlands.co.uk]

I went for a walk on Sunday to find the last remaining snow in the Ochils. There was still some on Kings Seat Hill, but the last will be on Ben Cleuch. I don't think it will last more than about a week to 10 days.

[flic.kr]

Another trip back to the Ochils today to see how the snow is getting on. It turns out that another member from this parish was up just a few hours before me, and between us we visited all the snow remaining!

A patch that I didn't see last week is visible from certain angles. It sits at 580 m above sea level and is about 30 m long. This will be the last patch to melt. Full collection of pictures is here: [www.flickr.com]

Remarkable snow event for Fife this morning, with 8" falling overnight. This will translate into the Ochils' patches also getting a good top-up.

[twitter.com]

There were still a couple of small patches on Goat fell, Arran last weekend.

I was on Corserine in Galloway yesterday. In the valley it was 23C but it was blowing a hoolie from the east on the top. Are these the most southerly snow patches in Scotland now? They are in the northern corrie of Corserine at about 760m

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Excellent, Peter. Yes, I'd say they probably were the most southerly. Given the cool-down I'd say they were probably just hanging in there, but look likely to disappear by this weekend.

This might be of interest to those in this thread (and not bode well for those looking for summer) - regarding increased Northern Blocking in summer, with a tendency to centre towards Greenland, which means cooler and unsettled conditions for us (potentially Northern Blocking can bring great summer weather as we saw the other week, but placement is key).



Also perhaps relevant for Scottish Snowsports, there being something of a tendency to all or nothing Decembers in recent years.



[onlinelibrary.wiley.com]



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 19.12hrs Wed 18 May 16 by alan.

White Coomb in the Moffat hills still holding a tiny patch as of 22 May, as shown here in David McSporran's photograph. [www.flickr.com]

I'd be surprised if there were others still lurking in this range.

Yesterday Chioniphile, Derek Pyper and I went to Glen Shee ski area to carry out the 42nd annual NE Highlands July 1st snow survey. Despite the weather being a bit hit-and-miss, we managed to catch breaks and record all the main snow-patch sites.

The largest patches, as usual, were on Ben Macdui, which came into view briefly before we left. Beinn Bhrotain's Coire an t-Sneachda also carried a massive wreath. Less impressive were the patches on Beinn a' Bhuird and Ben Avon, which seemed less large than usual.

Beinn Bhrotain by Iain Cameron, on Flickr

As well as our trip, Timberline and Glyn Jones went to Lochnagar and got some good images, which I'm sure they'll post on here about.

After the trip to Glen Shee I went to Cairn Gorm and took an overnight pack to camp on the Cairn Gorm/Ben Macdui plateau. However, because the weather and light held I managed to get round all the sites and snap some decent pictures. The usual suspects are all there, and some are in decent nick. Ciste Mhearad and the Feith Buidhe/Garbh Uisge Beag patches are very large, as is Coire Domhain. There isn't as much in the Snowy Corrie of Ben Macdui as I've seen in previous years, though.

Garbh Choire Mor by Iain Cameron, on Flickr

Garbh Uisge Beag and Feith Buidhe slabs by Iain Cameron, on Flickr

A full set of pictures from a memorable day can be found here: [www.flickr.com]

Lochnagar and the White Mounth escaped the heaviest of the showers during the day on 1st July. From the Meikle Pap, Glyn Jones and I did a clockwise circuit around the White Mounth, with unexpectedly clear views of virtually all the patches on the plateau and most of those in the corries; also those on the NE slopes of Cairn Bannoch. Although some were of reasonable size (around 100m in length) and those at the foot of the Cliffs west of Douglas-Gibson Gully were still joined up, our general impression was that very few will last until the August survey. Here is a selection of photos (perhaps needing a second post if they won't all fit).

3357 -- NE Coire
3359 -- Coire an Daimh Mhoile (Hummel Corrie) western slopes
3360 -- Hummel Corrie gorge -- patch up to 100m in length and 1.5m deep; still spanning the burn (on 21/8/15 it was 60m long and up to 2m deep, but had been split into two by the burn); soft surface, hard underside but dripping.
3372 -- Most of the Cairn Bannoch patches
3373 -- Large patch on Carn a Coire Bhoidheach, spanning the burn but only 0.5-1m deep.
3379 -- Coire of Loch nan Eun, where some patches survived to the 2014 August survey but none in 2015.


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