Spanish storm tips Scotland into its ‘wettest February on record’
● Weather warnings continue to stay in place for much of the country today
Spanish Storm Jorge may have tipped enough rain on Scotland at the weekend to make February the wettest in our history.
But this morning the biggest threat comes from all that moisture freezing overnight, leading to treacherous conditions for the morning rush hour.
The Met Office period for measuring the month’s rainfall extended until 9am yesterday, coinciding with the start of the new season and torrential rainfall associated with the Spanish-named storm.
It won’t be until today that figures for the full month are available but up to Saturday, a total of 265.1mm (10.4 inches) of rain had fallen Scotland– wide.
The record to beat dates from 1990, when 288.9mm (11.3 inches) had fallen in February.
In just 24 hours yesterday, 22mm (0.8 of an inch) fell at Bishopton near Glasgow and if that was replicated across the country, the old record may have fallen. Met Office forecaster Martin Bowles said:”we have already seen February records broken in Wales and the West Midlands.
“It is possible that these downpours right at the end of the month could have created a new record for Scotland, too.”
East Ayrshire Council had to distribute sandbags to worried residents of Kilmarnock yesterday, where local rivers had burst their banks.
New Mill Road and Champans Terrace in the Ayrshire town were closed due to flooding and pumps were put on standby in the Shortlees housing estate.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency had five flood alerts in place for Ayrshire
and Arran, Scottish Borders, West Central Scotland, Argyll and Bute and Central region.
Four more flood warnings were issued for Kilmarnock, several areas around Peebles and at Pollok Park in Glasgow, where the White Cart Water was in danger of flooding a police dog complex.
The A9000 Forth Road Bridge was closed to high-sided vehicles and double-decker buses as severe gales hit the Firth of Forth.
London North Eastern Railway apologised to passengers after a train from London to Aberdeen had to terminate at Newcastle.
An announcement said it would no longer be calling at Berwick, Edinburgh Haymarket,
Dundee, Arbroath, Montrose, Stonehaven and Aberdeen.
All Cal Mac ferries from Oban to Castlebay and Tiree were called off due to the weather and everything out of Mallaig was cancelled by winds gusting to 57mph.
Many services today are under threat of cancellation or delay.
A yellow Met Office warning for severe weather is in place until 10am this morning for an area running down the spine of Scotland, including Glasgow, where the mercury will fall to minus 2C (28F). The warning states: “Showers are likely to persist over west Scotland overnight.”