NorthernRab

Ah yes I see what you mean, sorry. For clarity, it looks like there were around 25 ground frosts with 15 of those being air frosts. Does that make more sense?

Not at all! Do you mean that air frosts include ground frosts?

According to the records 15 air frosts here (or at least nearby here at the airport at sea level) with around 10 ground frosts and a lowest minimum temperature of -10°C. So almost every single day producing a frost - it was a cold one! Struggling to find data for Dalwhinnie, Loch Glascarnoch, Altnaharra and so on though.

Hair ice / frost beard in Inverness this morning link

- 8.6 °C at Tulloch Bridge, Inverness-shire last night making it the coldest of the season so far.

I know I'm going to maybe regret saying this if things turn suddenly very zonal but...does anyone else slightly miss the wind?

I'm not so sure. This coming Sunday, Monday and Tuesday all look pretty cold by night with lowest temperatures around -7'C or so. Wouldn't take much.

^ We nearly had an ice-day here on Wednesday, only just got above freezing. Fairly early in the season for that.

Covering of snow here!

The Scottish mountains would be taking a hammering under this with an excellent start to the ski season

December 2009 was exceptionally cold during the second half, 2008 and 2007 were also very cold here for a period but were mainly dry, lots of hoar frost and freezing fog though. 1995 is another big one. A fair few of the years between 1995-2006 produced a white Christmas here and there was definitely one around 2001 where the temperature was -15'C here one night. All in all, while far from guaranteed, December can produce!

Dipped to -3'C here last night with freezing fog and daytime max of just 2'C!! And Happy Halloween!

Another autumn and another year of me emerging from my summer hibernation. Here's hoping for an interesting winter ahead!

I think you're getting mixed up with Snowdon vs Snowdonia? Snowdon is the 1000m+ mountain itself whereas Snowdonia is the general area. Similar to the Cairngorms encompassing a much larger than Cairn Gorm itself, though admittedly much of this is a plateau within a Scandinavian tundra climate so definitely not suited for late October marathons!

Overlooking the Buachaille today. It's coming!

White pixels over Scotland tomorrow?

Mountains round here now have a covering of snow, nice to see!

But in the north, a few slightly more interesting options beginning to at least appear in the mix towards the month's end?

Latest shows significant consolidation of Siberian snow cover alongside continuing notable snow cover in Scandinavia and western Russia.

I've considered giving winter climbing a go as I've been in full winter conditions many a time in spring and autumn, but it's the very short days that put me off as you really need to be on the hill at sunrise (8:15/8:30am or so) and up and down within 6 hours. Most of the Munros and more challenging Corbetts take about that time in decent conditions but I'll probably try a few later in the season towards January or February. In saying that, surrounded by some of the highest mountains in the country here at just a short drive away so about time I got more into the winter climbing!

I struggle a bit with the very short days which if coupled with fog / freezing fog, as is often the case, can make daylight pretty scarce. Winter means less in the way of hillwalking and mountain climbing so I tend to miss that. Other than that, it's a season I very much enjoy!

Things coming along nicely, large expansion in Siberia, widespread snowfall in western Russia / eastern Finland alongside Norway and parts of Sweden.

That's quite an unpleasant looking chart for the Azores, taking a direct hit from Lorenzo.

Unbelievable rain here over the last few hours

Sweltering heat on Thursday with a high of 31.6'C on the station, over 30'C at Dalcross on the coast - feels like temperature was a couple degrees higher too as humidity was high. Thursday evening had big flashes of fork lightning to the south but nothing reached here. Friday was hot too at 27'C, much cooler now but still very close following an uncomfortable sleep for many nights. What a hot spell!