The great Easter escape
Thousands take sunshine breaks with temperatures set to plunge
THOUSANDS of Scots plan to beat the plunging temperatures forecast by flying to sunshine spots for Easter.
Roads and railways are also expected to be packed as families make the most of the spring holiday.
But more snow has been predicted for parts of Scotland.
Travel experts say a spike in foreign travel this weekend is the result of the atrocious winter topped by the Beast from the East earlier this month.
Top of the foreign destinations are the Spanish Costas, Orlando in Florida, Tenerife in the Canary Isles and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates – where the mercury will top 35C (95F) today.
More than 100,000 passengers will pass through Glasgow Airport this weekend, with a further 350,000 expected during the entire Easter break.
The airport’s commercial director Francois Bourienne said: ‘This Easter school holiday break is gearing up to be one of our busiest on record. To make sure our passengers enjoy a smooth journey through the airport we’ll have plenty of staff on hand.’
A further 100,000 passengers will be flying out of Edinburgh Airport this weekend.
The Met Office has issued yellow ‘be aware’ warnings for snow this morning in the North-East and all day on Monday for the SouthWest. Today, forecasters say a few inches of snow could fall at higher levels in Central, Tayside, Fife, Grampian and in the Highlands and Islands.
Monday’s warning appears to pose a greater threat of travel disruption. Areas including SouthWest Scotland, Lothian and Borders and Strathclyde have been warned to expect ‘heavy’ snow, especially on higher ground.
Transport Scotland said some roadworks have been removed over the weekend to let traffic move more freely. These include the A82 at Leven Bridge in Dunbartonshire to ease travel to Loch Lomond over Easter.
A spokesman said: ‘The trunk road network is expected to be busier than usual over the Easter weekend so we advise drivers to plan their journey in advance.’
Network Rail has advised train passengers to plan ahead to avoid being caught up in £23millionworth of improvements being carried out this weekend.
Chief executive Mark Carne said: ‘Some routes are heavily affected and so we strongly advise passengers to plan ahead this Easter.’