Snowy weather proves to be white stuff for ski fans
Just two weeks before the start of British Summer Time, winter is about to bite across Scotland, with bone- chilling nights of -13C ahead next week.
Today sees a brief respite from Arctic conditions before more snow and plunging temperatures return for most of the country on Monday.
By Wednesday night, the Met Office are predicting a possible low of -13C.
This morning, the country is emerging from yet another spell of snow last night which was forecast across vast swathes of the country.
Tom Morgan of the Met Office said today things will warm up a little, with a high of 11C possible – above the average for the time of year.
He added: “Winter bites back on Monday. No warnings are out yet but I expect almost all of Scotland to see snow again by Monday evening and it could be disruptive.
“The cold Arctic air we have been seeing recently comes back down across the country, resulting in a bitterly cold night on Monday, with -12C possible.
“Things remain very cold into Wednesday, with a band of snow pushing up from the south west and a low of -13C possible overnight into Thursday morning.”
The Met Office long range forecast has cold conditions persisting until the “latter part of March” although there is still the prospect of some bright, sunny, days.
Morgan added: “Early April is still too far away to be confident about the forecast but the trend could be towards drier, warmer, weather you would expect for the month.” Yesterday saw yet another freezing reading at Altnaharra in Sutherland – the UK’s coldest spot for much of last week – as the mercury dropped to -15.7C.
Dawn also brought perfect ski- ing conditions at sports centres, including The Lecht Ski Centre in Cairngorm.
Alice Pease, 31, a geologist, from Aberdeen, said: “The slopes are in great condition and its always more fun when the sun is shining like it is today.”
Keira Stephen, 23, from Peterhead, said: “I usually ski abroad but its great having the slopes so close to home and they are in good shape just now, hopefully the snow will be here for a few more weeks yet.”