Northern Cairngorms

NC for 1.1.25: Cold,Snow. Unstable windslab on E,S to SW aspects above 800m. Localised below. Fragile cornices. Considerable Hazard.

NC for 1.1.25: Cold,Snow. Unstable windslab on E,S to SW aspects above 800m. Localised below. Fragile cornices. Considerable Hazard.

Forecast Snow Stability: Significant drifting will form unstable windslab on East through South to South-West aspects above 800m. Above 600m localised unstable windslab will develop on steep wind sheltered places. The greatest instability will be where accumulations gain depth in wind sheltered locations such as gully exits, coire rims and crag aprons. These accumulations will become more widespread as the day progresses. On these aspects fragile cornices will develop. The avalanche hazard will be Considerable.

Forecast Weather Influences: Snowfall is expected from early evening onwards. This will be heaviest during the night and will fall down to glen levels by early morning. Strong Westerly winds will veer North-Easterly for a few hours then become North-North-Westerly through the afternoon. Gradually turning colder over the next 24 hours with freezing levels falling to 300 metres by the end of the day. Observed Weather Influences: Significant snowfall during the night turned to heavy rain at all levels, this became more showery during the day. Winds were gale to storm force South-Westerly. The freezing level dipped to around summit levels by mid afternoon. ObservedSnowStability: Thaw conditions. Patches of soft wet stable snow remain on West through North to North-East aspects above 900 metres. These accumulations are mostly around coire rims crag aprons and gully flanks. Older stable patches of snow remain on Southerly aspects above 900 metres. Elsewhere the ground is mostly bare. The avalanche hazard is Low.