Hoping to get in a quick exercise ski before the thaw and rain, I repeated my route from two days ago, skating from P8 up the GP and CP past Mica to Mulvihill and back. When I left P8 the car thermometer read -5C. As I skied to the top of the hill above P5, I could feel a wave of warm air breaking across the ridge, and when I returned the car read +2C! Despite the warmth the snow was not wet, and glide was excellent. There had been no fresh grooming so there wasn't much texture to the surface, but control was fine. The base of the classic tracks looked glazed in places- grip waxing might have been tricky. That might be the reason most of the other skiers I saw (and there weren't many) were skating. Despite the lack of company on my route P8 was nearly full both when I arrived and departed. I highly recommend getting out if you can this afternoon, particularly for skating on the parkways. If there really is 50mm of rain coming it may be many days before we get good skiing again.