Storm after the calm as ice, snow and gales follow mild Christmas
HEAVY snow showers and gusts of up to 94mph hit Scotland on Boxing Day as Storm Conor swept through the country.
Weather warnings were in place across Scotland yesterday after an “exceptionally mild” ChristmasDay,butthey were due to expire by 9pm.
Forecasters are predicting much of Scotland will be dry today with some spells of sunshine while ice was likely to prove less of a problem than yesterday when snow fell in northern Scotland, including Moray and Aberdeenshire.
There were reports of road crashes in the icy conditions, with an oil tanker coming off theroadontheA9near Dalwhinnie.
Drivers in Glasgow also had to negotiate minor flooding in the morning after rain and heavy hailstones struck parts of the city.
It came after Christmas Day temperatures reached 15.1°C at Dyce in Aberdeenshire, which was hotter than Lahore in Pakistan and made it the second warmest British Christmas ever. It is beaten only by the 15.6°C recorded in Devon in 1920.
Wind speeds of 94mph were recorded at Sella Ness, Shetland, with Kirkwall in Orkney seeing gusts of up to 82 mph yesterday.
Transport Minister Humza Yousaf chaired a further meeting of the Scottish Government’s resilience team yesterday morning.
He said: “Safety must be paramount and should always take priority. This is particularly the case in the north of Scotland and the islands today.”
The Scottish Government said there had been some disruption to power supplies with more expected as Storm Conor reached its peak. Ministers said supplies were being restored quickly.
Travellers were advised to check for any disruption before setting off and transport operators were urged to contact passengers to warn them in advance of any likely problems.
High wind warnings were in place on bridges such as the Clackmannanshire Bridge, Forth Road Bridge, Dornoch Bridge and Erskine Bridge.
Traffic Scotland reported wintry showers on roads such as the M8, M90 and the A720 Edinburgh City Bypass.
Ferry operators CalMac and Northlink warned that services were subject to delays or cancellation at short notice due to weather.
The Scottish Environment Agency had four flood alerts in place yesterday for Caithness and Sutherland, Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.
The centre of the storm was actually north of the UK, nearer Norway.