TRAVELLERS are being warned to prepare for more disruption to their journeys as snow and ice that caused chaos over the past few days turns to slush and melts.
The Met Office predicts milder temperatures are on the way, raising the likelihood of surface water forming on top of thick-packed snow and ice.
The latest challenge for drivers and pedestrians comes after more snow fell across swathes of Scotland yesterday, with high winds causing whiteout conditions and drifting snow across higher ground.
A Met Office yellow weather warning for snow and ice remained in force throughout the day, with between two to three inches of snow falling in the Glasgow area and motorway traffic through the Central Belt at a halt at some of the most affected stretches.
Traffic came to a standstill on the M8 westbound at Kirk O’ Shotts after a minor accident, while heavy snow affected routes in Dumfries and Galloway and major roads in Ayr, where there were a number of minor accidents.
Glasgow Airport closed temporarily to allow the runways to be cleared of snow, while ScotRail warned of disruption to Inverness services due to conditions at Dalwhinnie.
Among the worst affected were winter sports enthusiasts lured by the promise of fresh snow on Scotland’s ski slopes.
As conditions worsened, hundreds of motorists and their passengers were trapped for several hours in their vehicles after a two-car crash on the A82 just south of the ski resort, which left five people injured.
Police later said their injuries were not thought to be life-threatening.
The Glencoe to Bridge of Orchy snow gates closed for several hours, preventing motorists who had made it to the slopes from leaving.
Blair Wilson, 21, set off at 5.30am yesterday from his home in Ayrshire to make the most of the conditions at Glencoe. He said: “The A82 was fine when we arrived at Glencoe just before 9.30am but it was a totally different story when it came time to go back.
“The snow drifted right across the A82, and no-one could get out of the access road. We ended up stuck for about an hour. People were digging cars out with shovels and pushing them to get them moving. I lost count of how many cars I pushed, but it was a lot.”
A spokesman for Transport Scotland said there were 132 gritters working across the trunk road network yesterday, boosted by local authority grit lorries.
Meanwhile, Network Rail sent snow clearing locomotives to work clearing snow from the West Highland line.
According to the Met Office the wintery weather should be gone by midweek as a mild westerly breeze off the Atlantic arrives to push up temperatures. A spokesman said: “It will gradually become milder. A westerly wind will bring milder air off the Atlantic, so conditions should not be too bad over the next few days. In the morning and early afternoon it should bright up with a few sunny intervals later in the afternoon.Temperatures should r ise to about 5°C to 6°C degrees in the Central Belt. That will bring a thaw and will lead to surface water.
“It will continue to be mild for Tuesday and Wednesday could see a period of heavy rain in the morning, with temperatures up to 11°C.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here