First snow of the year after temperatures drop to -2C in Scotland

18 September 2022, 13:40

Britain has seen its first snow of the season as temperatures fell across the country.

A dusting was said to have settled on the High Cairngorms mountain range on Friday morning with patches reported on the mountains of Ben Macdui and Braeriach in the eastern highlands.

After a summer of heatwaves many snow patches in Scotland have melted away. In previous years long lying snow patches can persist all summer and sometimes have even lasted through to the next winter.

Snowy weather is historically unlikely in Cairngorm in the middle of September but on average there are three days during this week each year when it rains. It was a jet stream of cool air ran over

Ben Macdui, the highest of the Cairngorms, is often the most likely place to be able to see the first snow.

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The Snow Forecast, which uses a predicted model, said that 1cm (0.4inches) of snow likely fell in the Cairngorms between Monday, September 12 and Sunday, September 18 at mid-mountain level.

The last significant snowfall was 6cm on Saturday, April 6.

According to the Met Office, the lowest temperature over the past 24 hours was at Shap in Cumbria at -1.7C. The onset of cold weather follows the heatwaves earlier in the summer, which included the UK’s new record-high temperature of 40.3C at Coningsby in Lincoln.

Tomorrow’s weather for the Queen's funeral is predicted to be often cloudy but dry across most parts with some brightness.