More Snow On The Way

Snow has brought fresh disruption to parts of the country, with forecasters warning more is on the way. The wintry weather follows four days of fierce storms which brought winds of more than 100mph, leaving thousands of properties without power. The Met Office has upgraded its warning for snow to an amber be prepared'' alert across central Scotland while yellow warnings remain in place for the rest of the country. The amber warning covering the Strathclyde, Central, Tayside, Fife, south west Scotland and Lothian and Borders areas is valid from 4pm today until 10am on Wednesday. Forecasters said there was a risk of two spells of persistent snow, one during the evening and the other in the morning, which could bring travel disruption and difficult driving conditions. The Met Office said:A cold and very unstable westerly flow covers the UK." This will bring frequent showers of hail, sleet and snow through Tuesday and overnight into Wednesday."Snowfall amounts will probably vary substantially across the amber area and there is the likelihood that some places will see very little settling snow." This warning will be kept under review and updated as and when necessary.'' Many areas across the rest of the UK are on snow alert, with frequent blasts of sleet and snow forecast, bringing yellow warnings for Northern Ireland and most of England and Wales overnight. Orkney, Shetland, the Western Isles and the east of England look set to escape the worst of the weather. In Dundee, a six-vehicle crash saw a car slide off the road and crash through railings into the wall of a property. There were not thought to be any injuries following the incident on the corner of Constitution Road and Dudhope Street at around 8.20am. Travel in the city was disrupted by heavy snowfall, with delays to bus services and some operators running only on major roads. More than 30 schools in the Highlands were closed because of the weather and many roads in the area were affected by snow and ice, including the A9 where a lorry jackknifed near Carrbridge. Scotland's transport minister Derek Mackay said agencies and organisations are working together to keep disruption to a minimum. He said:Our trunk road operating companies are doing all they can to keep roads clear where possible." We have patrols out across the day and night and motorists can see details of where and when gritters will be in operation through the interactive winter treatments map on the Traffic Scotland website."There is plenty of salt in stock and our winter control rooms are monitoring conditions 24/7 to make sure that the winter fleet is treating and patrolling where required.'' Chief Inspector Louise Blakelock, of Police Scotland, said: With a substantial risk of disruption to travel likely throughout today and into Wednesday due to the weather, motorists should consider whether their journey is absolutely necessary."If you do decide to travel, ensure your vehicle is well prepared before setting off, make sure your windscreens are completely free of snow and ice, and your lights are working and clean.'' Network Rail said staff would be working around the clock'' to keep the tracks clear. The snow comes after last week's storms which led to 120,000 homes in Scotland losing power and a number of lorries overturned on motorways. Engineers battled with extreme weather to reconnect properties in the north of the country, which remained cut off over the weekend. Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution said that all customers were reconnected by 10pm last night.