New member-exclusive MWIS weather skills courses

It’s the nation’s favourite topic of conversation, something we love to grumble about. Our weather is an ever-changing series of possibilities. All too often our mountain-bagging plans are swept away by turbulent Atlantic weather systems or lost in the mists which cloak the summits in a frustrating grey blanket.

If you’re regularly out on the hills, you’ll come to be familiar with so many elements of weather and by casual observation you may start to see local patterns emerge. How do the clouds move and change, where might the better breaks exist today? Is it time to call it a day before a thundery downpour arrives?

But how much do you really know about why our weather torments us so much? Why is the cloud base so low? Why is it sometimes windier in the passes and corries than on the higher summits? Why are we sometimes peppered by hail? What is a Foehn effect? And just what does it take to emerge above a cloud inversion?

The science of weather and forecasting is a fascinating world of physics, geography and some might say a dark art! Our expert meteorologists delve through a wealth of data each day to produce the MWIS forecasts you know and love - or love to hate when once again we have to forewarn of ‘considerable buffeting’ or ‘incessant rain’.

Our weather skills courses are your chance to fill your knowledge bank with the science behind the forecasts, helping you plan your mountain days better, from reading weather maps, to observing the changing clouds whilst on the move.

We cover a variety of topics from basics right up to the more technical elements to build your understanding of how the weather behaves. We look at pressure patterns, frontal systems, atmospheric stability, localised patterns and how things change during the year. Recent case-studies are used to highlight classic examples of interesting or unusual weather events in the mountains and why they happen.

It’s a fully interactive day where you can quiz our team about all things weather. Why do we sometimes have higher or lower confidence in the forecasts? And you can put your new-found forecasting skills to the test by studying some synoptic charts and making predictions for the days ahead!