Scotland ‘snow-free’ for fourth time in six years

Scotland is completely snow-free for the fourth time in six years.

The Sphinx in the Cairngorms, historically the longest lasting blanket of snow in Britain, has melted.

Snow expert Iain Cameron reported on Friday that the famous patch had disappeared in the last 24 hours.

It is the fourth time in the past six years that it has melted just nine times in the last 300 years. Mr Cameron said climate change was a likely factor.

The Sphinx on the remote Braeriach, a 1,296 m (4,252 ft) high Munro, has melted away more frequently over the past 18 years.

According to records, it completely melted previously in 1933, 1959, 1996, 2003, 2006, 2017, 2018, 2021 and now in 2022.

Before 1933, it is said to have melted completely in the 17th century.

Mr Cameron tweeted: “So there we have it. Scotland has been confirmed to be snow free once again.

“The last patch, the Sphinx, disappeared sometime in the last 24 hours.”

He added: “I’m not a climatologist (not even an academic) but it’s a pretty obvious direction to go.

“The future for semi-permanent snow in Scotland looks bleak.”

Just six days ago he had made the climb to check on the patch, describing it as “for heaven’s sake hold on”.

Mr Cameron, who lives in Stirling, has been studying snow patches in Scotland for 25 years and is the author of The Vanishing Ice, which he describes as a ‘lament’ about the snow and ice that linger high in Scotland’s hills.

He worked with the late Dr. Adam Watson, a biologist named Mr. Cairngorms because he spent many years exploring the mountains.

Some of Dr. Watson’s research on the Sphinx is based on information passed down through generations of people who have worked in and visited the Cairngorms.

The Scottish Mountaineering Club began noticing the patch’s fortunes in the 1840s, and more recently scientists and ecologists have been gathering information.

Independent of Mr Cameron’s research, a report commissioned by the Cairngorms National Park Authority and published in July 2020 states that decreasing snow cover and fewer days with snow have been observed on Cairngorm Mountain since the winter of 1983/84.

The researchers also noted a trend towards increasingly warmer weather since the 1960s and suggested that there would be a few years with very little or no snow on the Cairngorm in the 2080s.

The Sphinx lies in Garbh Choire Mor, a hollow known as the Corrie formed by ice or a glacier during the last Ice Age.

Garbh Choire Mor is said to be Scotland’s snowiest Corrie due to its ability to hold plenty of snow even in the summer months.

The Sphinx is the name of a climbing route near the snow patch.