THE longest lasting snow patch in the UK has melted for the "11th time since the 1700s".
The Sphinx patch, located on Braeriach in the Cairngorms, has only disappeared 11 times in 300 years — with it being a regular occurrence in the last 18 years.
It is understood The Sphinx's "lesser-known cousin", found on Aonach Beag, can still be found and is now Scotland's last snow patch of 2024.
Iain Cameron, who studies snow patches across the UK, shared the news online on Thursday evening, writing: "A sad day today. The Sphinx will melt in the early hours of tomorrow morning, meaning that’s the fourth consecutive year it has done so.
Nervy times ahead in the world of Scottish snow patch hunting. The Sphinx’s less well-known cousin, on Aonach Beag, is probably going to outlast its Cairngorms’ chum and be Scotland’s last. A sad sight to see the last two patches in the country about to expire. 📷 Colin Hutt pic.twitter.com/mLekAyp5Ek
— Iain Cameron (@theiaincameron) October 1, 2024
"This patch was once considered permanent.
"It has now melted completely since the 1700s in the following years: 1933, 1959, 1996, 2003, 2006, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024."
He added: "We are now in an era when its survival will be the exception. A 180° turn in a little over 20 years."
It has never before melted four years in a row, according to 200 years of data.
The ice patch was initially monitored in the 1840s by the Scottish Mountaineering Club. In 1933 a letter was written to The Times newspaper noting that it had melted for the first time in living memory, by a cohort of mountaineers whose lived experience dated to the mid-1800s.
In 2003 and 2006, it vanished, and it did so again in 2017 and 2018. Scotland was hit by the Beast from the East in 2018 but it did not benefit the Sphinx as it is eastern-facing.
Since 2020, the patch has vanished every year.
Cameron wrote a book about his enthusiasm for snow, The Vanishing Ice, in 2021, and said he initially felt the title was pessimistic – but he now feels it was accurate.
He said the size of the Sphinx depends on factors including summer temperature and winter snowfall.
Cameron said: “The Sphinx is a vestige of the last Ice Age. It is the place in Scotland where glacial regeneration will occur.
“Importantly, we can see that patches of snow which lasted through decades and centuries are dispersing. These patches of snow act as barometers for climate change.
“I’m not a scientist or climatologist, I’m just someone who writes about these things.
“It makes me feel sad – I’m used to seeing them survive, it’s like visiting an elderly relative.”
