Travel disrupted as winds reach 75mph

Autumn well and truly arrived in the north of Scotland last night as the region was battered by severe gales.

And the strong gusts are expected to continue into the early afternoon.

But the good news is that the stormy conditions are expected to have come to an end by this afternoon. Sutherland, Caithness, the Hebrides and Orkney were among some of the worstaffected areas, with gusts pickingupspeedsof75mph in some areas.

Some higher ground in Aberdeenshire also experienced high winds.

The Met Office raised its alert to a yellow “be aware” warning yesterday and it remains in place until 1pm. The weather has already caused disruption across the west coast and Highlands.

Ferry operator CaledonianMacBrayne confirmed the poor conditions had led to delays and cancellations over the past 36 hours.

And the firm said it was expecting further disruption this morning.

ScotRail has urged train passengers to check travel information before setting off for their morning commute.

And Network Rail has also asked people who live close to railway lines to secure items in gardens, such as trampolines, to prevent them from being blown on to lines.

Peter Sloss, duty forecaster at the Met Office’s Aberdeen base, said: “A deep area of low pressure that has been in the Atlantic has passed through to the north of Scotland.

“Once you get into autumn you start to get these areas of low pressure, what’s unusual is we’re getting it in September. It’s usually October and November.”