Snowfall brings travel hazards
But no more white stuff is expected
Residents in Stirling and the central belt faced a hazardous morning commute yesterday as they awoke to a covering of snow.
Pedestrians dealt with challenging terrain underfoot while motorists battled their own issues.
Tailbacks on the major motorway routes linking Stirling with the neighbouring cities of Glasgow and Perth caused hold-ups.
The M80 artery from Glasgow was closed for a time following an accident, while the M9 also suffered after a smash on the bridge over the A9 at Junction nine, near Bannockburn.
Roads agency Traffic Scotland issued Police warnings to travel with caution in Stirling, Clackmannanshire and Falkirk.
The Met Office had earlier issued a Yellow warning, indicating a likelihood of travel disruption due to snow and ice, effective between 9pm on Monday and 11am yesterday (Tuesday).
Stirling Council also urged residents to be careful and despatched gritting teams to treat rural and urban routes from 4pm on Monday.
Trains remained unaffected, however, with Scotrail confirming that services had been “running well”.
But the good news is that the snow is set to depart as quickly as it arrived and conditions will return to the usual winter rainfall this week.
Homegrown amateur weather enthusiast Scott McLean says the temperature is set to rise again, bringing wet weather.
He told the Observer: “A cold front moved into the area, bringing colder air and there was some wet weather moving in from the south at the same time. There was a band of showers overnight which met with the colder air, resulting in the snowfall.
“Snow is always touch and go in our area but there was a high risk we could have had snow over the last couple of days. I don’t expect there to be any more, maybe a bit of sleet but temperatures will rise over the coming days and it will turn to rain.”
The temperature is expected to rise from the middle of the week bringing rain, which will be heavy at times.
Scott, based in Kings Park, says wet conditions will hit the area on and off for the rest of the week, taking us into the weekend, with breezier weather at times. It follows milder temperatures last week, where a high of 11 degrees centigrade was seen on Tuesday January 21.
Stirling has experienced short spells of ground snow in January, measuring between three and five centimetres over recent years, but has historically seen little snowfall over the period.
The 2018 Beast from the East saw the worst period of snowfall in the city in recent times, with around 23 centimetres recorded at low levels.
For the local weather news including historical and real-time weather information from Stirling visit www. stirlingweather.co.uk or see social media @stirlingweather.