Hail In Cornwall As Perennial Snow Disappears From Scotland's Highest Peak

[hatrack]

The image of Scotland's ice-capped mountains is in danger of becoming a thing of the past as rising temperatures threaten to wipe away the snow from the top of the country's highest and most rugged peaks.

While unseasonable weather patterns cause havoc across the country, forcing the residents of Padstow in Cornwall to run for shelter from large hailstones and encouraging grapes to grow wild in Essex, Britain's highest mountains lost their frosted coatings. For thousands of years, snow patches remained hidden among the shaded corries and crevices of the Cairngorms all year long as the cold temperatures compacted the snow into sheets of ice often several feet thick.

Replenished by regular annual blizzards the highest summits were never completely bare - until recently. Slopes which were once littered with scattered snow patches are just barren rock and scientists fear that it is yet another sign of a big thaw brought about by global warming.

The last snow of the year on Britain's highest mountain, the 4,406ft Ben Nevis, disappeared a month ago and now the last remnants of snow have vanished from 4,296ft Ben Macdui. According to ecologist Keith Miller, who works with the conservationist body the John Muir Trust, the last snow patches in a remote area called Garbh Choire Mor, some 3,800ft above sea level, disappeared weeks ago.

EDIT

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1902194.ece