Winter’s back with bitter Arctic blast

Snow and gales on way as mercury plunges again

ANOTHER wintry Arctic blast of snow, gales and plunging temperatures is heading for Scotland.

The country has seen a NorthSouth weather divide since the Easter weekend.

While the North has been blitzed by blizzards for most of this week, the Central Belt has been dry with long sunny spells.

But last night, snow and rain were being driven into the West by strong winds.

And forecasters warned that, after a brief respite, temperatures would sink once again tomorrow and into the weekend as cold air is dragged in from the Arctic.

Meteorologist Clare Nasir said: ‘The air turns a little less cold and a weather system moves in, introducing more cloud and outbreaks of rain.

‘The winds then pick up, particularly across the North as well as the North-West. We could see severe gales for a time. However, as this cold front sinks southwards, it is going to drag in some cold air, yet again coming from the Arctic.’

She added: ‘It turns a lot colder through Friday and into the weekend. Eventually, the winds will ease – but there’s still the risk of wintry showers.’

The East is expected to remain colder for longer today, with a sharp frost to begin.

Traffic Scotland said gritters would be out in the Aberdeen area from 2am until 10am.

The unsettled spell is to be used by Transport Scotland to test the stability of ground above the A83 at the Rest and be Thankful, in Argyll, which has faced closures since last August after landslides.

Since Monday, traffic has been using the main road under single-allowed lane convoy, with the Old Military Road relief link kept on standby.

Eddie Ross, of road operator BEAR Scotland, said: ‘The trial 24-hour operation of the A83 has been successful so far and has us to maintain use of the trunk road during a period of reasonable weather.

‘We’re now turning towards the next stage that will involve running the A83 during slightly more adverse weather conditions overnight, with this allowing us to further optimise our monitoring practices and control measures for overnight convoy operation on the trunk road.

‘Road user safety remains our top priority and we will only keep the A83 open if we are content that it is safe to do so.’

The coldest temperature in Scotland yesterday was -4.6C at Eskdalemuir, Dumfriesshire, recorded just before 4am. Though Edinburgh and Glasgow are expected to have a sunny weekend, temperatures will be below the 9C daytime April average.

Looking further ahead, the Met Office long-range forecast suggests unsettled conditions around April 26, when tourist accommodation is allowed to re-open.

It adds: ‘Most unsettled conditions are likely to affect northern and western parts of the UK.’

‘It turns a lot colder’