Ice warnings after snow and gales close roads and hit ferries
WINTER has returned, with heavy falls of snow and gales lashing parts of the Highlands and Islands, closing roads and disrupting ferry services.
The Met Office issued a yellow “be aware” warning for snow and ice across Scotland until tonight, although the snow is expected to fall increasingly on the higher ground only, with heavy rain lower down.
However, there was sufficient snow to make driving particularly difficult on some routes.
Snow gates were closed on the A93 Glenshee to Braemar; the A889 Catlodge to Dalwhinnie; A821 Dukes Pass from Aberfoyle; and B974 Cairn O Mount in Aberdeenshire. Both the A9 near Dalwhinnie and the A82 through Glencoe were only passable with care.
High winds meant caution was needed on the Tay, Kessock and Dornoch bridges.
Ferry services were also hit, with virtually all of CalMac’s network from the Clyde to Ullapool to Stornoway route across the Minch suffering cancellations or disruption.
Across the day up to 6,000 homes in Oban, Fort William, Skye and the Western Isles lost power due to lightning strikes on electricity lines.
SSE described it as “a busy day for engineers” and said the majority of properties were reconnected within an hour of problems emerging.
Trains to and from Inverness were cancelled by snowfall while some services in Ayrshire were disrupted, with waves crashing on to the tracks at Ardrossan.
A spokeswoman for the Met Office said there might be a little more snow on the way, but it was more likely to fall as heavy showers of rain below 400m.
South Uist had gales of 64mph earlier in the day. She said it was likely that the high winds would continue with gusts of around 60mph to 70mph but largely on the higher ground.
She explained: “The air is basically being dragged down from the north.
“We have low pressure which is very slowly moving across the north of Scotland and bringing with it strong winds and dragging the cold air down. But by the time it gets to the south of Britain it has warmed up and is nowhere near as cold.”