Scotland's highest hills turn white as weather expert gives verdict on June snow

Daily Record

a day ago

The Cairngorms National Park was dusted with snow, a spectacle more typical of winter months
Scotland is well used to experiencing a mixed bag of weather regardless of the time of year. Scots are a resilient bunch - but there is no doubt that seeing snow during the summer will always feel a little odd.
Meteorological summer is here but it hasn't stopped the elements from acting up. Despite no rain for the first 23 days of May, four weeks' worth of rain fell in just three days last week, pushing it into wetter-than-average territory.
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Snow has now entered the picture, too. The white stuff covered Scotland's highest hills and mountains on Wednesday (June 4) including Cairngorm, showing how the freezing level of polar air dropped across the country overnight. Photos showed the wintry-looking road to Cairngorm Ski Centre with fresh snow above 3,2000ft.
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BBC Scotland weather presenter Judith Ralston gave her verdict on the frosty sight just as British Summertime approaches and how it fares to previous years.
"Snow on the hills of Scotland is not unusual in early June," the expert explained.
"The colder air has come down from Iceland and, with the strength of wind, it reached Scotland before getting much time to warm up."
Even so, Neil Cuthbert, Conservative councillor in Edinburgh couldn't hide his amazement, writing on X: "Pretty amazing to think it's the first month of summer and we have snow in the mountains of #Scotland."
Some of Scotland's mountains, including the Cairngorms, had snowfall around this time last June.
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In 2010, more than 100 skiers took advantage of ski tows being open at the Cairngorm Mountain resort near Aviemore for the first time in midsummer.
People were previously able to ski in the Cairngorms at this time of year but they had to trek to where the snow was.
Cairngorm Mountain, along with Scotland's other mountain ski centres, had benefited from lengthy periods of freezing conditions over the winter.
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This most recent bout of snowfall was unexpected because it follows a period of unusually warm weather. Just a couple of weeks ago, Scotland basked in a 'mini-heatwave,' with temperatures soaring to 25C.
However, a dramatic shift in weather patterns brought widespread rainfall and even snow to the Highlands.
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Meteorologists attribute this sudden change to a cold front moving south from the Arctic, bringing freezing temperatures to parts of Scotland.
"Overnight lows dipped below freezing in exposed northern regions, and daytime temperatures remained well below seasonal averages," mkweather.com explained.
"This sharp contrast to the preceding warmth underscores the volatile nature of Scotland's weather."
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But is there more snow to come in Scotland?
The Met Office hints at such, but stressed that long range forecasts are not as reliable as their shorter range forecasts and due to the "the chaotic nature of the atmosphere," the weather could change on a dime.
"Our forecast says a cold front is responsible for the change in the UK's weather, which is seeing a shift to wetter and windier weather on Tuesday and into Wednesday," a weather agency spokesperson revealed.
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"This could indeed see a mixture of snow and rain over the high ground of Scotland over the next couple of days, but this isn't the weather the vast majority of people will experience and isn't unheard of, even at this time of year."
The Met Office long range forecast from June 8-17 throws weight behind this prediction of changeable weather across the UK, but more with showers or some longer spells of rain spreading in from the Atlantic.
In terms of the rain, the heaviest and most prolonged bouts will probably be across parts of the north and northwest, with the southeast likely driest. Temperatures are expected to be near normal or slightly below.