What a weekend of weather extremes
Perth and Kinross was once again battered by extreme weather over the weekend.
Fierce gales and flood water on Friday and Saturday was followed by sunshine and high winds on Sunday, changing to heavy snow showers on Monday.
Poplar Avenue in Aberfeldy had been closed on Saturday morning, with water moving swiftly across the main town approach.
There was flooding from the River Earn and the Tay covering farmland, with acres of fields in Logierait disappearing under the water.
Farmers reported moving stock to higher ground and finding sheep marooned, sheltering on islands above the floodwater.
Police Scotland issued a yellow warning for snow from 3am until 10pm on Monday, February 24, advising that snow might bring disruption, especially on high ground.
The warning told residents to expect possible travel delays on roads stranding some vehicles and passengers, cancellations to rail travel and some rural communities becoming cut off.
Children living in Glenlyon got the afternoon off school from Breadalbane Academy as the way home was judged to be getting snowbound by 1pm.
The council’s roads department told Glenlyon Primary School the snow plough would not be coming to the glen at all on Monday as higher priority routes were still being cleared. Again, children went home early.
The white-out came within hours of a windy, sunny day followed by a mostly clear starry night.
The shore at Loch Tay was battered by waves on Sunday, which was a bracing, sunny day.
Aberfeldy resident Mark Bridgeman said: “The water level must be at least five or six feet higher than it is in the summer. The 30 or 40 feet of beach has disappeared.
“Five feet doesn’t sound that much, until you remember that the loch is 17 miles long and half a mile wide, that’s millions and millions of gallons of water. And, my god, was it windy.”
Over at Loch Leven, Scotland’s largest lowland freshwater loch burst its banks and the historic Kinross Pier was swamped and had disappeared underwater.
Scottish Wildlife Trust reserve ranger Jeremy Squire told the PA while this was dramatic to observe, it did happen more or less on an annual basis without much harm to the pontoon.
Water from the swollen loch came close to inundating the nearby Boat House restaurant as well, while sandbags were providing a last line of defence for the adjacent Historic Scotland offices next door.
Various parts of the 13-mile path, the Loch Leven Heritage Trail, were impassable to visitors at the weekend.
Families in Queich Place in Kinross were among those worst affected with crews from Scottish Fire and Rescue pumping water out of their homes.
Station Road, Ochil View, Mill
Street and the local Sainsbury’s carpark were among other parts to suffer worrying levels of water rising in the town as were roads on local routes nearby including at Milnathort.