Cranreuch Cauld!
1st March 2018
A great auld Scots phrase to describe a biting East wind and used by Robert Burns in his classic poem ‘To a Mouse’.
That wee bit heap o’ leaves an’ stibble,
Has cost thee monie a weary nibble!
Now thou’s turned oot, for a’ thy trouble,
But hoose or hald,
To thole the Winter’s sleety dribble,
An’ cranreuch cauld!
Very few snow showers managed to get to the coatal hills, but a band of quite intense showers yesterday and overnight were feeding in on the strong East wind on a line from the Black Isle in the east to Ullapool in the west through the Fannaichs. There was over a foot of snow in the garden in Ullapool this morning, but nothing in Gairloch to the south.
Sunrise on the Fannaichs this morning. Strong summit winds are re-distributing snow as evident by the spindrift.
The classic views of Beinn Eighe and Liathach from Glen Torridon this morning.
Old avalanche debris in Coire an Laoigh, Beinn Eighe from the last thaw of 18th/19th February. It has remained cold since with little subsequent snowfall.
Cracking in recent accumulations of windslab. In this instance, there is poor bonding to the underlying old firm snow.
Looking east out of upper Coire an Laoigh, Beinn Eighe. The cloud thickened in the afternoon, enough for the odd flurry of snow.
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Naomi Clarke
6th March 2018 2:43 pm
Watching with interest, coming early April and hoping to walk Ben Alligin with my boys – fingers crossed snow gone by then!
R Bell
31st January 2021 5:18 pm
It actually means “frost” and comes from the Gaelic “crann-reothadh”.