Drifting and Rime
10th February 2026
Lots of drifting high up on Aonach Mor today, in the strong South-Easterly winds. Poor visibility made it hard to see much, many slopes were scoured with drifts starting to build behind fences at higher elevations. Below 1100 metres any new drifts were consolidating well in the milder temperatures.
East-South-Easterly winds are forecast to continue into tomorrow with the freezing level dropping to around 600 metres and snow showers above this height through the day.
Most surfaces above around 1100 metres remain coated in a thick layer of rime. This has also been affecting weather stations at this height. Our weather station https://holfuy.com/en/weather/1365 has been stuck reading -0.2 for the last couple of days. This now has significantly less rime on it and has been giving readings close to what is expected. My thermometer did read slightly colder than our weather station so if anything it is reading slightly on the warm side but gives a good indication of temperature at this height. In current conditions any high weather stations may be subject to the effect of significant riming.
Rime on the summit building at Aonach Mor. Our weather station is contained within the black tube and should hopefully give more accurate readings now there is less rime on it.
The met office weather station in a similar area also coated in rime.
Rime on the snow fence in the ski area with fresh drifts building on the near side of the fence. This picture was taken at around 1000 metres. Drifting only increased further up.
Looking up the goose gully area at Aonach Mor, it may look benign but the angle of the t bars gives an idea of the wind strength. At this level thaw conditions prevailed, higher up it was cold with drifting snow
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