-16C Scotland braced for coldest night ... but it’s not a polar vortex yet
SCOTLAND last night was expected to endure the UK’s coldest night of the winter so far, with the mercury forecast to plunge to -16C in Aberdeenshire.
The chilly prospect came as a number of people were injured in sub-zero conditions.
A woman who went to the aid of a dog after it fell into a frozen river in East Lothian had to be rescued by emergency services. She was helped off the ice on the River Tyne at Haddington by firefighters but the dog could not be saved.
Ahead of last night’s Big Freeze, Braemar in Aberdeenshire had already created a record with -15.4C on Thursday night.
Last night, extensive snow cover coupled with skies clearing yesterday evening were expected to allow temperatures to fall even further.
‘A new record is a possibility,’ said Met Office spokesman Sophie Yeomans. ‘We are currently confident of a -14C or a -15C but it could go even lower.’
But although the cold has proved problematic in Scotland, it nothing like the deadly polar vortex hitting the United States, where the death toll rose to 26 yesterday, with thousands more injured.
Meanwhile, truckers encountered severe conditions in North-East Scotland, struggling to get traction on snowbound roads. Three lorries got into difficulty on the A96 near Keith, Moray, close to where another lorry had jackknifed on Friday afternoon.
In the centre of Glasgow yesterday, motorway chaos followed a collision on the M8 at Provan.
After a brief calm spell today, with only wintry showers, atrocious conditions are set to return tomorrow morning when a band of rain will turn to snow as it pushes east across parts of Scotland and northern England from midnight.
A few centimetres are likely at low levels, with up to two inches expected on higher ground.
Announcing a fresh yellow ‘be aware’ warning, the Met Office said ice will be an additional hazard, with snow becoming lighter and more patchy before dying out by early tomorrow afternoon. Areas affected include Central, Tayside and Fife, Grampian, Highlands and Islands, South-West Scotland, Lothian and Borders and Strathclyde.
Miss Yeomans said: ‘Slightly warmer temperatures are coming through next week. Scotland will remain the coldest part of the UK but precipitation could gradually begin to fall as rain, rather than snow.’
Met Office long-range forecasts suggest colder than normal conditions for the rest of this month.