Scottish Winter Forecast 2005/06

The weather, forecasting and long range weather forecasting is one of my interests. I have my links to the radar, Aboyne webcam and long range forecasting websites etc. Long range forecasting is a low success game but here is my understanding and take on the Scottish winter ahead:

An early call was made for a colder winter, lead by the UK Met Office. As I understand, this would be because winds from Siberia would be pulled in. This results in cold and snow showers from the East but mainly dry due to the limited moisture being picked up due to the limited time over the North Sea, don't get me wrong living on the east coast e.g. Aberdeen a foot or more snow can add up. However, I have been watching how early in the season the cold air has been over Iceland, I'm told this is a lot colder than recent years. This is my prediction . ....

We will see two or three significant encroachments of this cold air over Scotland, bring heavy snow falls to the North and West, Glenshee will be a bit sheltered but should still get a good covering. The spanner in the works for me is that I still think we will get mild or extremely mild interludes. This is what has really hurt skiing over the last few years. We get a cold spell followed by warm topical air filled winds that knock the cover back to near nil. If we can get an early substantial fall of snow to set up a good base for the season then we maybe in better shape to ride out the thaws days. But I feel the mild spells will just out number the cold plunges.

The ideal situation would be for polar lows to be followed by the predicted highs pressures that will drag the cold air in from Siberia. That would be too good to be true from a skiing perspective, good snow, blue skies and no wind. A dream, and like most Scottish skiers that is what I will be praying to the snow gods for.