Schools were closed, ferries cancelled and roads across the north battered by snow and sleet yesterday.<\/p>\n
The Met Office had a weather warning out for high winds and snowfall, which changes to a warning for snow and ice today.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The Met Office recorded 10cm of snow in Aviemore, while flurries closed the A93 between Braemar and the Spittal of Glenshee.<\/p>\n
A spokesman warned the wintry showers would continue across the north today.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The barriers closed at 11am and re-opened just an hour later, but St Margarets Hope and Burray in Orkney were affected by flooding.<\/p>\n
Northlink Ferries cancelled all sailings on the Pentland Firth route and todays sailings are under review.<\/p>\n
West coast ferry operator CalMac was also forced to cancel or disrupt most of its services.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Moray Council kept Tomintoul Primary School closed for the day as snow prevented the school bus for reaching it.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The authority was also out treating roads throughout the area due to snow and sleet, which made for treacherous driving conditions.<\/p>\n
Cromarty, Dornoch, Kessock and Skye Bridges were closed for periods throughout the day to high sided vehicles.<\/p>\n
Aberdeen City Council was last night preparing for temperatures to drop.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Were gritting primary routes this afternoon and again early morning, and city centre pavements before 7.30am too.<\/p>\n
Rescue teams were called out after a small blue boat broke free from her mooring on the river of Thurso.<\/p>\n
Scrabster and Melvich Coastguard volunteers joined Thurso lifeboat to investigate just before 10pm on Monday and found the vessel had drifted ashore.<\/p>\n
The owner later recovered the boat.<\/p>\n
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Snow and wind hits the north as Met Office warnings continue - Press and Journal<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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. Continue reading