‘Beast from the East’ to bring snow chaos
● Travel disruption warning as storm from Europe set to bring freezing cold
Police are expecting a high risk of disruption to travel across Scotland later this week as heavy snow sweeps in.
The wintry blast, dubbed “the Beast from the East”, arrived in the south of the UK yesterday morning and is to work its way north, with Met Office weather warnings now in place.
With snow and freezing temperatures expected, there is an amber warning for tomorrow covering much of the Lothian and Borders, Forth Valley, Fife, Tayside, Grampian and the eastern Highlands. A yellow warning for snow for most of mainland Scotland is also in place from early today through to tomorrow night.
Police Scotland are warning of potential disruption to trunk roads and urging people to only travel if necessary.
Trains, planes and ferries are also likely to be affected, with some parts of the country set to feel colder than the Arctic Circle with a wind chill that could see parts of the UK feeling as cold as -15C.
The Met Office said that by the end of tomorrow, more than 20cm of snow may have accumulated in some parts of Scotland, eastern England and Northern Ireland.
Age Scotland is calling on people to check in on elderly neighbours and relatives during the bad weather to ensure they are coping with the cold.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney has already chaired a meeting of the Scottish Government Resilience Team to ensure preparations are in place to deal with the potential impact of the weather.
Transport minister Humza Yousaf said: “The weather warnings from the Met Office mean that we’re facing an acute weather challenge over the coming days. We’re likely to see significant disruption to The Arctic storm dubbed the “Beast from the East” set record low temperatures across much of Europe and brought a rare snowstorm to Rome, paralysing the city and giving its residents a chance to ski, sledge and build snowmen in its famous parks and piazzas.
Transport services were crippled the transport network, particularly in the areas affected by the amber warning.
“I’d ask travellers to consider if they need to make their journeys during the amber warning periods. If you do choose to travel during those times, you are very likely to face delays and disruption.” and the army was mobilsed to help clear slush-covered streets.
Meanwhile, meteorologists in Germany reported a record low for this winter of -27C on the Zugspitze mountain in the Alps. And Moscow recorded its coldest night this winter, at to nearly -20C on Sunday night.
Chief Superintendent Stewart Carle, head of road policing at Police Scotland, said: “We will continue to give advice on social media and via radio stations, so please tune in and follow @Policescotland, @Metoffice and @Trafficscotland for the latest updates.”