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Weather alerts
13/12/2011
The Met Office has this afternoon upgraded its warnings from yellow to amber for heavy snow for parts of Scotland ahead of the evening rush hour.
- Grampian (Yellow)
- Central, Tayside & Fife (Amber)
- Strathclyde (Amber)
- SW Scotland, Lothian & Borders (Amber)
Heavy snow will fall over ground above around 100m, and at times to low levels too. Accumulations of 10cm or more are possible on hills, and there may also be some slushy accumulations at low levels. As a result some roads will become icy. Very strong winds will accompany the showers at times, notably across southern and western Scotland.
Northern parts of the Central Belt such as Glasgow through North Lanarkshire and into Falkirk are likely to experience significant impacts from around 1800 hours and overnight into the morning rush hour, although by Wednesday morning the snow level is expected to have risen to around 300m.
Transport Minister Keith Brown today confirmed that the Multi Agency Response Team (MART) would be fully operational for at least the next 24 hours to monitor the weather and travel situation.
Conditions are not expected to reach the levels of last week's storms, the worst in a decade, however police are reminding the public to keep up to date with the latest travel reports. Transport Scotland will use its network of Variable Message Signs, the Traffic Scotland website, radio travel information broadcasts and the Traffic Scotland Customer Careline to keep the public updated.
Following a meeting of the Scottish Government's Resilience team, Mr Brown said:
"Once again commuters and members of the public across many parts of Scotland are facing a difficult journey home - albeit not on the same scale as last Thursday.
"The Multi Agency Response Team is helping to co-ordinate preparations and our response. Police advice on travel will be issued regularly and can be accessed through Traffic Scotland radio and other media platforms.
"I would urge the public to stay vigilant and tuned to local radio reports and the Traffic Scotland website as circumstances could quickly change."
Assistant Chief Constable Allan Moffat, speaking on behalf of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, said:
"We are continuing to play our part in the Multi Agency Response Team along with a wide range of partners as the weather situation is closely monitored. The Met Office is warning of deterioration in the weather across many parts of Scotland with the possibility of snow on higher ground, difficult driving conditions and coastal flooding. I would urge people to monitor local forecasts and respond accordingly."
Transport Scotland, working in partnership with the police, has developed a severe weather information strategy to warn and inform road users when significant disruption to the road network is expected during extreme weather.
The advice and information service will commence when severe weather is forecast within Scotland. Forecast information will be provided in advance and during severe weather conditions. The travel advice will relate to three specific stages which will be adopted depending on the severity of the weather:
Travel with caution - Police are advising people that conditions for road travel are hazardous and drivers should exercise extra caution
High risk of disruption for road journeys - Police are advising that conditions for travel are extremely poor and there is a high risk of disruption for road journeys. Travellers are likely to experience significant delays
Avoid travelling on the roads - Police advise drivers to avoid travelling on the roads. Travellers will experience severe delays of several hours or more.
Roads information available at Traffic Scotland or by phoning 0800 028 14 14
Rail, ferries and air travel - check with individual service operators' websites.