HEAVY snow and winds of more than 90mph battered parts of Scotland yesterday as Storm Conor swept across the country.
Snow fell across northern Scotland, including Moray and Aberdeenshire, while Shetland recorded wind speeds of 94mph and Orkney up to 80mph.
An amber “be prepared” warning was in place for the Highlands and Northern Isles, with a lesser yellow warning covering the rest of the country.
Matt Roe, duty forecaster at the Met Office, said: “We’ve got around 60mph on the west coast. Elsewhere, it’s a pretty blustery day, up to around 40mph, maybe 50mph.
“We’ve got some fairly heavy showers too and these are falling as snow across central and northern parts of Scotland. There are some fairly heavy snow showers across the Highlands as well.
“It’s basically a cold, windy day across Scotland with a mix of everything. There’s frequent lightning as well with some of those showers in the north.”
Transport Minister Humza Yousaf yesterday chaired a meeting of the Scottish Government’s resilience team, involving representatives from the Met Office, Transport Scotland, Police Scotland and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa).
Travellers were urged to check for disruption before setting off, with Traffic Scotland reporting sporadic wintry showers on roads such as the A9, M8, M90 and the Edinburgh City by-pass.
High wind warnings were in place on the Forth Road Bridge and the Clackmannanshire, Dornoch and Erskine crossings. Ferry operators CalMac and Northlink warned that services were subject to delays or cancellation at short notice because of Storm Conor. Sepa had four flood alerts in place for Caithness and Sutherland, Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.
Yousaf said after the resilience team meeting: “At this time of year many people will be travelling to spend time with friends and family so we would remind the public to check before they travel and delay their journey if necessary. Safety must be paramount and should always take priority – this is particularly the case in the north of Scotland and the islands today.
“The new microsite on the TrafficScotland website covers all modes of transport and I would urge people to check this and information from other providers.
“I know that many travel companies and operators have also been very proactive in terms of speaking to customers via phone, email, text and social media. This has been a crucial part of this year’s mainly successful contingency planning so far.”
He added: “The Scottish Government’s resilience operation is actively monitoring weather developments and receiving updates from the Met Office, Sepa and the utilities companies, as well as keeping in touch with emergency responders and councils at a local level in the areas likely to be affected by adverse weather.”
Storm Conor was following a similar track to Storm Barbara, which left 25,000 homes in the north of Scotland without power on Friday. Some power problems were reported yesterday, but supplies were said to have been restored quickly in affected areas with extra staff, equipment and welfare facilities put in place.
The worst of the wind was expected to ease by midnight.
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