HEAVY snow in northern Scotland left drivers in need of rescue as vehicles become stranded overnight and roads were buried.
The Met Office has extended warnings for snow and ice from midday on Saturday to midnight on Monday.
Yesterday, around 20 vehicles were stranded in snow at Loch Droma, north-west of Inverness on the A835 between Ullapool and Garve, and emergency services have been assisting a rescue operation, Highland Council said.
Road management organisation Bear Scotland said the vehicles became stranded in two-metre snow drifts.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said it attended the Aultguish Inn near to Loch Droma, at about 5.15am yesterday to assist stranded drivers and passengers. Crews remained at the scene after the incident.
Network Rail said services have been disrupted on the Highland Mainline despite plough trains being used to clear snow.
Elsewhere, Bear Scotland said the A85 is closed west of Methven in Perth and Kinross due to flooding caused by surface water and all vehicles except HGVs and buses are being diverted.
The amber weather warning covers Central, Tayside and Fife, Grampian, the Highlands and Islands and Argyll and Bute, warning the conditions could cause road and rail disruption, as well as power cuts.
Up to 20-30cm of snow is expected in areas above 150cm and 10-15cm in low levels, which could cause road and rail disruption, and power cuts.
A separate yellow warning forecasts periods of snow, heavy at times, for much of inland central and northern Scotland into today.
A further warning for snow and ice covers the length of Britain from midday today to midnight on Monday.
By next week, temperatures will be struggling to get much above 0C in quite a few places, with some areas such as the Pennines and high parts of Scotland seeing several degrees below that.
Met Office forecaster Steven Keates said it will be “really unpleasant” to be outdoors, adding “lots of layers” will be needed.
Keates said England will see a “marked” drop in temperatures, with some parts possibly seeing 5-10cm of snow. He said: “Enough snow is on the cards to cause potentially quite a bit of disruption in the south-east of England through Sunday, and potentially very early next week as well.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel