Schools were closed, ferries cancelled and roads across the north battered by snow and sleet yesterday.

The Met Office had a weather warning out for high winds and snowfall, which changes to a warning for snow and ice today.

A high wind speed of 89mph was recorded at the top of Cairngorm Mountain, while there were gusts of 56mph at sea level on the isle of Tiree.

The Met Office recorded 10cm of snow in Aviemore, while flurries closed the A93 between Braemar and the Spittal of Glenshee.

A spokesman warned the wintry showers would continue across the north today.

Shetland Coastguard was called in to assist police and close the Churchill Barriers on the narrow causeway connecting mainland Orkney with South Ronaldsay due to high seas.

The barriers closed at 11am and re-opened just an hour later, but St Margarets Hope and Burray in Orkney were affected by flooding.

Northlink Ferries cancelled all sailings on the Pentland Firth route and todays sailings are under review.

West coast ferry operator CalMac was also forced to cancel or disrupt most of its services.

A CalMac spokesman said: The tail end of Store Ciara continues to cause problems across the west coast ferry network, with all 28 routes impacted to a greater or lesser extent.

In total we have cancelled services completely on 10 routes and people travelling should ensure they keep up to date with the status of the sailing theyre planning on taking.

Moray Council kept Tomintoul Primary School closed for the day as snow prevented the school bus for reaching it.

Highland Council was forced to close 10 of its schools and six nurseries due to bad weather and some of the buildings being without power or heating.

The authority was also out treating roads throughout the area due to snow and sleet, which made for treacherous driving conditions.

Cromarty, Dornoch, Kessock and Skye Bridges were closed for periods throughout the day to high sided vehicles.

Aberdeen City Council was last night preparing for temperatures to drop.

A spokeswoman said: Sleet and ice conditions are expected overnight and road surface temperatures are expected to drop to -0.9C on most routes with some down to -1.9C during the early hours.

Were gritting primary routes this afternoon and again early morning, and city centre pavements before 7.30am too.

Rescue teams were called out after a small blue boat broke free from her mooring on the river of Thurso.

Scrabster and Melvich Coastguard volunteers joined Thurso lifeboat to investigate just before 10pm on Monday and found the vessel had drifted ashore.

The owner later recovered the boat.

View post:

Snow and wind hits the north as Met Office warnings continue - Press and Journal