Anyone heading for Scotland's winter mountains should check out the avalanche reports. Photo: Bob Smith/grough

Scotland’s avalanche service steps into action today, with the first reports of the 2019-20 winter.

Each day during the winter, the Scottish Avalanche Information Service provides forecasts and reports of risks in the Highlands, with six areas covered.

The Torridon team posted in a blog: “This winter seems to be following a similar pattern to previous ones: fickle.

“We had good winter conditions through the first half of November which gradually thawed and all but disappeared by end of the month.

“Recently, colder conditions has encouraged a bit more snow to return to our mountains in the North-West, but with no great depth to it.

“However, we will look forward to good winter season and thank you all in advance for following our blog and reading our avalanche forecasts.”

Avalanche risk in Torridon is likely to be low, with shallow accumulations.

In Lochaber, which covers the Ben Nevis area, Aonach Beag and Mòr, and the Grey Corries, there is moderate risk on slopes from the North to East above 900m, with fresh, unstable windslab reported, though this is likely to be shallow. However, instability remains on the older snowpack.

In Glen Coe, the risk is generally low, but there are patches of moderate risk on steep ground on aspects from the North-West through to the East, where there are deep snow drifts.

Freezing level in the area today was about 650m.

Anyone heading for the Scottish hills during winter is advised to check the SAIS site or social media before setting out. Last winter 124 avalanches were recorded in the Highlands.

Weather reports can also be obtained via the Mountain Weather Information Service and the Met Office’s mountain weather forecasts. Details of all of these are grough’s Links page.