3 days ago
Final snow patch melts, for the fourth year running
Summer heatwaves in Scotland have resulted in the country being declared snow-free for only the tenth time since the mid-1800s.
Experts tracking the survival of snow patches around Scottish mountains have recorded the disappearance of the final snow patch of 2025 as the country experiences one of several heatwaves this year.
It marks the fourth consecutive year that all Scotland's patches have disappeared. Seven of the ten snow-free years have been recorded since the turn of the century.
Glennie found no snow in the Sphinx patch, above, but there were a few small, isolated patches in the Pinnacles patch earlier in the day on August 6
JOE GLENNIE
Author and snow-patch researcher Iain Cameron is one of several snow lovers, or chinophiles, who have charted snow in Scotland's mountains. The mountaineer Joe Glennie, together with Colin and Campbell, a father and son, witnessed the disappearance of the final snow patch at 2.30pm on August 6.
Cameron said: 'The most durable patch of snow historically is in the Cairngorms and is called the Sphinx, situated in a huge corrie of Braeriach — which is the UK's third highest hill — called Garbh Choire Mór. It is also the most remote corrie in the Cairngorms, requiring significant effort just to get there.'
Ad hoc records have been kept for two centuries, first by the Scottish Mountaineering Club then by the naturalists Seton Gordon (1900-1940) and Adam Watson (1940-2000).
Braeriach, seen in winter across the Lairig Ghru
ALAMY
As a teenager, Cameron became fascinated by a patch of lingering snow on Ben Lomond which he could see from the window of his childhood home in Port Glasgow, Inverclyde.
He has become an authority on the subject, having kept records since 2000, and has published several books on the subject, including The Vanishing Ice.
He said 'We are seeing less snow falling in winter and spring in general across the Highlands, which is the main reason for snow patches disappearing more often.'
Iain Cameron with the shrinking Sphinx snow patch in 2023
NICK HANSON
The Sphinx and Pinnacles patches are remote and inaccessible
He pointed to challenging conditions experienced by the Scottish snowsports resorts, which experienced one of their worst seasons last winter. The Scottish Avalanche Information Service reported the lowest number of avalanches in 40 years, and described Scotland's most recent snowpack as 'lean'.
Historically, most of Scotland's longest lasting snow patches lie in northeast-facing corries, where moisture-laden southwesterly Atlantic winds dump snow above 2,000ft.
The snow blows over cliffs, settling in sheltered areas shielded from the warming winds of spring and summer.
'The depth needed to sustain the patches through summer and autumn is simply not there,' Cameron said. 'This is backed up by the decreased number of skier days experienced across the main ski resorts in Scotland. The reasons for this are debated, but a changing climate must certainly be considered the biggest one.'
