Schools and airport shut as snow causes chaos across the Lothians

SNOW brought chaos to the roads and shut schools today and the Capital is bracing itself for more, with snow forecast to continue until Wednesday and overnight temperatures expected to plummet as low as minus ten.

• Motorists struggle to clear snow from a car in the Capital after a night of heavy snowfall

Another two to four inches of snow are expected to fall this afternoon, with lighter flurries in the coming days.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

All schools across Edinburgh and the Lothians were closed today, Edinburgh airport closed for a second day and city council gritters were struggling to keep even the main roads clear.

Roads bosses said they had seen more snow fall in 24 hours than over a period of four weeks last winter and police warned motorists to make only essential journeys.

This morning trains between Edinburgh and Glasgow were reduced to a half-hourly service, leaving the Capital at 15 and 45 minutes past the hour and departing Glasgow on the hour and the half hour.

Rail services on other routes, including the Edinburgh-Bathgate line, were also disrupted.

In West Lothian, the M8 was closed westbound at junction 3 Livingston for a time and traffic was crawling on the city bypass.

Lothian Buses were running restricted services on many routes, with several First Bus services restricted or cancelled.

Met Office forecaster Graeme Whipps said the coming snowfalls would be lighter than those over the weekend, but temperatures would remain low, particularly in the West: "I think we'll probably maintain snow showers for the next couple of days, not as intense as we had yesterday, with some showers mainly affecting the coast into Wednesday, but by Thursday or Friday it will be a little bit drier.

"Temperatures will get down towards minus four or five overnight and just above freezing during the day in Edinburgh."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Council roads bosses said they had seen six to ten inches of snowfall in the Capital in just 24 hours, compared to six to eight inches over four weeks last winter.

Edinburgh Airport closed between 12.30pm and 5pm yesterday, with cancellations on several airlines and other services diverted.

The city council said it was concentrating its snow-clearing efforts on "category 1" roads – including key bus routes and roads to hospitals – but had struggled to do even that because of the heavy snow. Council bosses said they will only be able to move on to category 2 and 3 routes, which include residential roads, once the weather has improved.