SEVERE weather brought huge disruption to transport across Scotland yesterday, including the closure of Glasgow Airport. The Met Office has warned there will be no let-up in the wintry conditions until later today.
Organisers of the various outdoor Hogmanay celebrations around the country are waiting for Met Office updates after predictions were made of possible gales hitting Scotland tomorrow. In Edinburgh the internationally famous street party was cancelled 11 years ago due to high winds.
The Met Office has issued yellow warnings for strong winds and the Irish Met Office, Met Eireann, has named the latest storm Dylan.
The alerts cover southern and central Scotland, Tayside and Fife between 00:05 and 15:00 on December 31, with gusts of up to 80mph expected in Northern Ireland and southern Scotland. Forecasters warned there is the potential for “injuries and danger to life from flying debris”.
Glasgow Airport’s closure lasted only an hour yesterday morning but the knock-on effects continued throughout the day.
Snow and blizzard conditions simply overwhelmed the precautions being taken by airport staff.
It is believed as many as 14 arrivals and 12 departures between UK and Irish destinations had to be cancelled.
The closure, which left some passengers stranded on aircraft on the tarmac, was announced in a tweet: “We regret that operations are temporarily suspended at the airport.
“Our winter operations teams are working to reopen as soon as possible. We advise passengers to check with their airline for updates and apologise for any disruption.”
After the airport re-opened in mid-morning, a spokesperson said: “The airport is now open and operational again. Our winter operations team will remain on standby throughout the day to monitor weather conditions.”
Seven flights to and from Aberdeen airport were also cancelled.
Flights from Esbjerg, London Heathrow, Kirkwall and Sumburgh were all affected after the north and north-east of Scotland saw one of the coldest nights of the year.
Temperatures plummeted to -12.3°C at Loch Glascarnoch in the Highlands overnight, while most parts of Scotland recorded freezing conditions including widespread ice.
The weather was also blamed for a landslip that closed a railway line in Ayrshire. The line between Girvan and Ayr closed for most of the day and services between Ayr and Girvan, Glasgow Central and Girvan, Kilmarnock and Girvan and Glasgow Central and Stranraer via Kilmarnock were cancelled, delayed or revised.
Scotrail organised replacement bus services between Ayr and Stranraer and Girvan and Kilmarnock.
For road travellers, Police Scotland issued a Stage 2 warning that drivers should ensure they were adequately prepared with fuel, warm clothing, food and water.
Yesterday morning the Glasgow area had the biggest snowfall in the UK, with more than 10cm recorded in Bishopton. Near to that location a lorry jack-knifed on the A737 in Renfrewshire.
Police in Dumfries and Galloway attended a four-vehicle collision on the A711 near Beeswing, and bus services in parts of central Scotland were either disrupted or cancelled.
Elsewhere in Scotland and across the UK, heavy snow, rain, thunderstorms and wind caused disruption, with parts of Scotland and northern England in particular hit by intermittent snowfalls.
Cumbria Police warned on Twitter that all routes in the south of the county were affected, as well as the M6, the main link to the west of Scotland.
By contrast, the south coast of England was lashed by torrential downpours, lightning and strong winds.
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