UKC

Given the current forecast it looks possible Scotland may have snow to low levels for a month, what's the previous record for this (say since weather was officially recorded)

In reply to CurlyStevo:

Looks like it might tell you in here:

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/113516397/abstract?CRETRY=1&... (need to log in and download)

It doesn't tell you here - but interesting anyway: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_patches_in_Scotland


Chris

In reply to Chris Craggs:

The bit about the protalus rampart was interesting: didn't know that.

Y.

In reply to Yrmenlaf:http://www.netweather.tv/index.cgi?action=other;type=winthist;sess= This link seems to suggest was either 1947 or 1951 looking at around 2 to 3 months.

In reply to CurlyStevo:
This link seems to suggest was either 1947 or 1951 looking at around 2 to 3 months.

Was just talking to an elderly neighbour about this recently and he reckons 1947 was the year the most snow fell and lasted the longest.

In reply to CurlyStevo:

I was going to suggest the last ice age...







...but I guess only sutty could confirm this ;0)

In reply to CurlyStevo:
1878 or thereabouts and probably the 17th century as they had a mini ice age with snow in Summer and severe weather in the South!!

In reply to CurlyStevo:

Like I say, you will find far superior knowledge on this on Winterhighland. Adam Watson could tell you re the CairnGorms.

In reply to Scott K: I thought official records started around 130 years ago tied google but didn't get an immediate answer

In reply to CurlyStevo:
I was just trawling the net and found references to the Medieval ice age. It was a time when the Thames iced over regularly and I have seen a painting of an elephant walking across it(something to do with 'frost fairs' they had). There were also reports of snow storms in Summer and 2 month long frosts. The reports are mostly for London and Edinburgh as I suppose these were the only major cities to keep the records.

In reply to Chris Craggs:

The patch at the bottom of zero area on Nevis was supposed to have survived for over 40 years, and one year when it looked like going it was covered over to try and preserve it, early 70s I think. Since then it has come and gone but lasts most of the summer and into winter if there is early snow.

Now if only I could find the book with it in, about Buchans periods I would know for sure.

In reply to sutty:

IIRC there's a patch in the Cairngorms which has been there since a Stuart was ont throne?

In reply to Padraig:

I read somewhere, I think in Adam Watson's Cairngorms book, that there was effectively a dying glacier in the top of Coire Leis till 1810.

It is without doubt that snow was more abundant in the 18th-19th centuries than it is now on the hills of Scotland and northern England. I'm currently researching a paper with Dr Adam Watson into this very subject, and hope to have it published this year.

As for the assertion that snow has been present in Scotland since a Stuart was on the throne, this is totally incorrect. The most persistent snow in Scotland, in Garbh Choire Mor, Braeriach, has vanished five times in the last 100-years (you can read this in the Wikipedia page I wrote, linked above). There is no evidence whatsoever that glaciers existed in Scotland during the 'little ice age'. Sheila Rapson has published a paper that puts an end to the speculation that has been around for quite some time.

When the snow disappeared at Garbh Choire Mor in 1933, it came as a shock to the worthies of the time. It had never been known (in the memory of the oldest local inhabitant) to melt, at least since 1864.

It is extremely likely that the snow at GCM persisted for decades without melting in the past (perhaps many decades). We can't now know this for certain, though.