Amber warning in Scotland as disruption continues across UK
Snow, rain and wind warnings are in place for parts of the UK for the remainder of the weekend following Storm Goretti.
The Met Office’s warnings for Northern Ireland, Scotland and the north of England came as forecasters said the harsh conditions were expected to ease with milder weather at the beginning of next week.
The yellow warning for snow and ice in Scotland has been upgraded to amber. The epidemic, which started at 03.00 on Sunday and lasted until 14.00 the next day, affects the central and northeastern parts of the country.
Meanwhile, National Grid said it was working to resolve power outages that continue to affect more than 20,000 properties in parts of England and Wales.
A new amber alert in Scotland warns of the potential impact on both road and rail networks.
The Met Office said power outages were likely and other services such as mobile phone coverage could also be affected.
Scottish Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop told people in affected areas to consider postponing journeys and working from home where possible.
He added: “Conditions will inevitably impact the transport network, so it is vital that people and communities continue to plan ahead to ensure they stay safe.”
Storm Goretti brought heavy snow, ice and strong winds to much of the UK last week.
On Thursday, the day the storm arrived, the Met Office issued a rare red wind warning for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
Wind speeds of up to 159 km/h were later recorded in the region.
Police have since said a man was killed after a tree fell on his caravan in the Mawgan area of Helston.
Cornwall Municipality stated that teams were working day and night to clear fallen trees and make emergency repairs, and said that the storm was “one of the most severe storms in memory” of the county.
Meanwhile, there are power outages in some regions across the country.
On Saturday, National Grid said more than 20,000 properties were still without power, with south-west England continuing to face the most outages.
Around 19,000 premises were still without power in the South West; Hundreds were affected in the East Midlands, West Midlands and Wales.
National Grid said it had worked “tirelessly” and had restored power to almost 170,000 properties.
Hundreds of schools across England had to close before the weekend as heavy snowfall caused travel disruptions.
The Met Office said Britain would “say goodbye to really cold weather” next week, with temperatures expected between 9 and 11 degrees in the south and around 6-8 degrees elsewhere.
