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The Southern Uplands

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Viewing forecast for Saturday, 4th February, 2012

Forecast last reviewed on Friday, 03/02/12 at 13:29


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Summary for all mountain areas

Milder air will percolate slowly east across Britain. Freezing levels will be very varied, as in/above some, but not all valleys, strong winds (upland gales across many mountains) scour out the cold air. Most areas will have snow, heavy western Scotland.

Headline, The Southern Uplands

Upland gales extending east. Snow afternoon.

How Windy?

Southerly, at dawn 20 to 30mph, strongest west. But quickly strengthening from west to 35 to 40mph, with gusts 55mph Galloway.

Effect Of Wind?

Buffeting will soon become widespread and where exposed considerable across the hills. Severe wind chill.

How Wet?

Patchy snow then rain

Dumfries & Galloway: rain, setting in for 3 or 4 hours middle of the day and afternoon. Locally snow to low levels at first, but then mostly rain. Borders: Pockets of light snow morning, becoming persistent from west in afternoon, and in places turning to rain.

Cloud on the hills?

Becoming extensive

Will deteriorate through morning, especially Dumfries and Galloway, as cloud widely drops below 400m. Will start to lift again by dusk. In Borders, cloud will slowly begin to cap the summits, and drop to 450 to 600m in the afternoon.

Chance of cloud free Summits?

Less than 10% west to 40% Borders

Sunshine and air clarity?

Little if any sunshine. Excellent visibility at first (at east Borders), but becoming very poor indeed in snow.

How Cold? (at 750m)

-2 to -4C at first, lowest east. As milder air comes will rise to 1 to 3C Dumfries and Galloway and toward freezing point Borders. Very little temperature variation with height.

Freezing level

Poorly defined freezing level: Terrain largely frozen. But in Dumfries & Galloway, freezing level tending to lift above the summits, and toward 750m Borders.

Planning Outlook for all mountain areas from Sunday, 5th February, 2012

A broad area of high pressure will remain near Britain most of next week, bringing mostly light winds. Weakening fronts slowing down near the high will bring patchy rain and snow, and also areas of low cloud. The low cloud in particular will be hard to forecast, in some areas persistent to a very low level, whilst in others almost completely absent. With the air higher up often very clear, this will result in some fine days on many mountains.

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