Storm Goretti live: Snow causing major travel disruption as UK hit by ‘weather bomb’ with 99mph winds

Thousands of people are waking up where they did not intended to be after one of the UK’s busiest airports, Birmingham, shut down on Thursday evening because of heavy snow.

At 4.50am the airport said: “Runway operations are currently suspended. Passengers will face disruption at the airport this morning. Those due to travel must check the status of their flight via their airline.”

Flights were diverted to Heathrow, Manchester, Stansted, Luton, Liverpool and East Midlands – which itself then closed for a time.

Many hundreds of passengers spent the evening hoping they would be above to depart – but the runway did not reopen as hoped. They include an Emirates Boeing 777 to Dubai, which was the last plane in on Thursday night before it closed.

Flights have been cancelled on Friday morning to destinations including Amsterdam and Paris.

Storm Goretti continues to batter the UK with tens of thousands of Britons across the country facing widespread power cuts.

The storm has brought wild, wintry weather including 99mph winds, and a rare red warning was issued by the Met Office for “dangerous, stormy” conditions in the South West.

More than 44,000 properties were without power in the South West at 5am on Friday, according to the National Grid’s website, while about 13,700 had no power in the West Midlands and 532 were without power in Wales.

More than 1,800 addresses in the East Midlands were also without power heading into Friday morning, with National Grid telling customers in the south west of England that it was aiming to have services restored by 8am.

Aberdeenshire Council declared a major incident earlier this week, warning of a “good chance” some rural communities would be cut off, as well as the possibility of power cuts.

A yellow alert which came into force at 8pm last night predicted wintry showers which would lead to patchy ice and some fresh snow.

It covers the country to just south of Fort William and as far west as Glasgow.

Ministers attended a meeting of the Scottish government’s Resilience Room on Thursday afternoon, after which Justice Secretary Angela Constance provided an update on recovery efforts.

“Following five days of amber warnings and hugely challenging snow and ice conditions across northern Scotland, progress to fully recover continues,” she said.

“However, there are yellow weather warnings in place overnight for most of Scotland, and with Storm Goretti set to affect other parts of the UK and a cold but still unpredictable weather picture for Scotland over the weekend, it is clear that impacts will continue to be felt in the coming days.”

First minister John Swinney also emphasised that the focus has now turned to recovery efforts.

He said: “We’ve had a period of really intense and heavy snowfall in certain parts of Scotland, particularly the North East, the Highlands and the Northern Isles and the Western Isles, and the government has been closely engaged with local resilience partnerships throughout that series of amber warnings, and those amber warnings have gone on for a prolonged number of days.

“The challenge with the snow has been, quite simply, the volume, and we’ve had formidable resources available in the North East and in the Highlands to clear transport routes on the trunk roads and also on the rail network, which is the responsibility of the government.”

He added: “We are, however, thankfully, in a position where we are able to focus more on recovery than dealing with the immediate incident, and that very much is the focus of all local resilience partnerships, and the government is supporting with the reallocation of resources where that is possible to do so.”

Assistant chief constable Alan Waddell, of Police Scotland, said: “We have been working closely with resilience partners across local authorities, other emergency service partners, transport partners, NHS and health and social care partnerships, and other local organisations to support communities affected by adverse weather and keep public services open where possible.

“Some services may be impacted by adverse weather and I would encourage the public to check on neighbours or relatives, if they are able to do so safely.”

A section of the A74(M) motorway was closed in both directions on Thursday after what Police Scotland described as “multiple collisions due to icy conditions”, but it has since reopened.

All “priority one” routes in Aberdeenshire and the Highlands are open, but Traffic Scotland confirmed snow gates remain closed on the B974 Bridge of Dye, and many local routes remain affected.

Rail lines around the country have now reopened, with the northern section of the Far North Line between Brora and Wick/Thurso being finally cleared of snow on Thursday evening.

Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop welcomed the news, posting on social media: “Thank you Network Rail Scotland – huge effort in very challenging conditions.”

Many schools will remain closed for a fifth day on Friday as the country remains gripped by ongoing wintry weather.

The Met Office has issued a yellow warning of snow and ice covering much of Scotland which comes into force at 8pm and runs until midday on Friday.

It comes after several days of intense snowfall, ice and sub-zero temperatures which have led to school closures and travel disruption, mainly in the north of the country.

More than 250 schools are due to remain closed on Friday, including more than 150 in Aberdeenshire, dozens in the Highlands and Aberdeen, and a number in Moray.

Many pupils will have had a whole week off school at the start of the new term, though remote learning has been provided in many cases.

A total of 278 schools were closed on Thursday across northern Scotland, or around 11% of the school estate – down on the 440 that were closed on Wednesday.

At least 1,000 travellers are currently awaiting the runway to be cleared, with some departing flights experiencing delays of up to five hours.

The adverse weather forced an inbound flight from Amritsar, India, to divert to Heathrow, while five subsequent arrivals, including Jet2 services from Antalya and Gran Canaria, were rerouted to Manchester.

Read more in this bulletin from Simon Calder:

Birmingham airport has suspended the use of its runway after heavy snow.

Issuing an alert on X, the airport said: “Passengers due to travel should contact their airline regarding the status of flights.

“The safety of our colleagues and customers is our number one priority and this decision has been made with this in mind. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.”

A yellow warning for snow and ice is also in force across much of Scotland, where more than 250 schools are due to remain closed on Friday, including more than 150 in Aberdeenshire, dozens in the Highlands and Aberdeen, and a number in Moray.

The red warning, which was in place until 11pm on Thursday, warned of damage to buildings and homes, very large waves, flying debris resulting in danger to life, power cuts and public transport cancellations.

The Met Office’s website says amber weather warnings are issued when there is an increased likelihood of impacts from severe weather, including the possibility of travel delays, road and rail closures, power cuts and the potential risk to life and property.

Yellow warnings are issued for a range of weather situations, including when it is likely that the weather will cause some low level impacts, including some disruption to travel in a few places, or when the weather could bring much more severe impacts to the majority of people but the certainty of those impacts occurring is much lower, according to the Met Office.

Storm Goretti, named by French weather forecaster Meteo France, has been described as a “multi-hazard event” by the Met Office, with as much as 30cm of snow possible in parts of the UK.

Weather warnings have been issued for snow, wind, rain and ice across the country, ahead of likely “disruption and dangerous travelling conditions”.

Met Office chief forecaster Neil Armstrong said: “Storm Goretti will be a multi-hazard event, with the most significant impacts from snow in parts of Wales and the Midlands and the very strong winds in the far South West, though heavy rain in some parts of Wales and East Anglia also has the potential to bring disruption to many.”

A yellow warning for wind has been issued for the rest of the south coast and Wales, where gusts of up to 70mph are forecast, while a yellow warning for snow covers swathes of England from Bath to Northumberland.

Meanwhile, an amber warning for snow runs until 9am on Friday covering parts of Wales, the Midlands and Yorkshire.

About 10 to 15cm of snow is likely across the warning area, with up to 30cm on higher ground in Wales and the Peak District.

Wintry weather is set to cause chaos across the country including school closures, widespread power cuts and major disruption to travel.

It comes after Storm Goretti brought 99mph winds while a rare red warning was issued by the Met Office for “dangerous, stormy” winds in the South West.

More than 50,000 properties were without power in the South West on Thursday evening, according to the National Grid’s website, while about 9,000 had no power in the West Midlands and 2,000 were without power in Wales.

Trains were cancelled in Cornwall, and Birmingham Airport said it was suspending operations as of 9pm on Thursday because of heavy snow on its runway.

All trains in Cornwall were to be suspended from 6pm on Thursday, Network Rail said.

In Devon, trains on the Exeter-Okehampton and Exeter-Barnstaple routes were suspended from the same time because of forecast high-wind speeds.

Rail services across England, Wales and Scotland may be affected until the end of the day on Friday due to the weather, National Rail said.

A yellow warning for snow and ice is also in force across much of Scotland, where more than 250 schools are due to remain closed on Friday, including more than 150 in Aberdeenshire, dozens in the Highlands and Aberdeen, and a number in Moray.