BOMB’S GONE... BUT MORE COLD ON WAY
Experts predict more high winds and showers
YORKSHIRE IS expected to be battered again today by high winds and showers as forecasters predicted even colder weather is on the way, following a day of widespread disruption across the country.
The Met Office reported gusts of 63mph at High Bradfield in South Yorkshire and 61mph at Bramham in West Yorkshire yesterday as stormy conditions caused by a so-called ‘weather bomb’ hit the country.
A Met Office spokesman said that in Yorkshire the high winds would continue today before easing off towards the evening. Conditions on higher ground (1,200ft and above) in Yorkshire this morning are expected to be wintry, with the possibility of sleet or hail.
Temperatures tonight and into tomorrow morning are expected to be hovering around zero, or below, in parts of the county. Showers could be wintry in places.
The spokesman said the low pressure ‘weather bomb’ had “been and gone”.
“This is winter weather. There’s nothing unusual about this weather for the time of year.”
Poor weather in other parts of the UK led to power cuts, ferry and train cancellations and difficult driving conditions.
Last night thousands of customers were still without power in the Highlands, Shetland and Western Isles.
Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution (SHEPD) said it has 500 engineers working to restore supplies, although repairs are taking longer due to the nature and complexity of the damage to the network in some areas.
Elsewhere, a fishing vessel which issued a Mayday call at around 5.30am yesterday after it was hit by a wave that smashed windows on the bridge has been escorted to safety.
The Shetland Coastguard rescue helicopter and Stromness
This is winter weather and not unusual for the time of year Met Office spokesman
Lifeboat were sent to the scene off Orkney.
The British-registered vessel O Genita, which has a Spanish crew, was escorted to Westray in Orkney by the lifeboat.
None of the 16 crew are thought to be injured.
In Aberdeenshire around 20 cars were freed after they were stuck in icy conditions at Cairn O’Mount, while the Forth Road Bridge was closed to high-sided vehicles and the Tay Bridge was only open to cars.
The process behind the storm - rapid cyclogenesis - is known colloquially as a weather bomb.
Fifteen flood warnings and 12 flood alerts were issued by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) yesterday, although 13 of the warnings and two of the alerts were lifted by early afternoon.
Many Caledonian MacBrayne ferry services, which operates in the west of Scotland, have been cancelled or disrupted while the Argyll Ferries service between Gourock and Dunoon was suspended for a time.
There were also disruptions and cancellations on NorthLink Ferries services between Orkney, Shetland and the mainland, while P&O said its Larne and Cairnryan sailings were operating with delays of up to at least two hours, with disruption expected throughout the day.
All Western Isles Council’s schools and nurseries were shut along with all depots, libraries, museums and sports facilities.
More than 40 schools and nurseries in the Highland Council area were closed.
All Stena Line sailings between Cairnryan and Belfast have been cancelled until 7.30pm today after a ferry hit part of the south-west Scotland terminal.
It happened as the vessel was coming in to dock yesterday morning.