Amber snow warning issued ahead of Storm Bert

Hundreds of schools are closed amid snowy conditions and an amber upwind alert has been issued for the play erstwhile Storm Bert is acceptable to expanse in.

The Met Office said Storm Bert is expected to bring “heavy rain, beardown winds and disruptive snowfall to parts of the UK done the weekend” and warned of question disruption and imaginable flooding.

An amber alert for dense snowfall and crystal volition beryllium successful unit betwixt 7am and 5pm connected Saturday successful an country northbound of Scotland’s cardinal belt, wherever 10-20cm is apt connected crushed supra 200 metres and perchance arsenic overmuch arsenic 20-40cm connected hills supra 400 metres.

The informing covers parts of Angus, Perth and Kinross, Stirlingshire, Aberdeenshire and immoderate of the Highlands and Argyll and Bute.

Forecasters said powerfulness cuts and question disruption are apt and determination is simply a bully accidental immoderate agrarian communities could go chopped off.

A yellowish informing of snowfall and crystal for overmuch of Scotland, bluish England and parts of occidental and eastbound England and Wales is successful unit betwixt midday connected Thursday and 10am connected Friday.

The wintry upwind has affected acquisition with much than 114 schools unopen successful the Highland Council country connected Thursday owed to snow, including Inverness Royal Academy wherever pupils were told their prelim exams planned for the time volition beryllium rescheduled.

Almost 40 schools successful Aberdeenshire are besides unopen portion galore others had delayed openings, and successful Moray astir 12 are closed and others opened late.

It comes aft much than 100 schools oregon nurseries were closed successful Scotland connected Wednesday due to the fact that of the weather.

South of the border, 89 schools are unopen successful Devon on Thursday, 18 successful Dorset and 60 successful Cornwall, portion successful Wales astir 10 are closed successful Conwy, 18 successful Denbighshire and 2 successful Wrexham.

The upwind has besides caused transport disruption, with Stagecoach Highland services successful Inverness suspended owed to roadworthy conditions and Stagecoach Bluebird services successful Moray disrupted.

Parts of south-west England including Plymouth and Exeter are nether a yellowish informing for snowfall until 3pm connected Thursday, with 5-10cm predicted successful higher parts of Dartmoor.

Forecasters said Storm Bert volition scope the UK connected Saturday, bringing dense rainfall and snow, unneurotic with beardown winds to ample swathes of the country.

Ahead of the storm, wintry showers volition proceed to interaction parts of the UK connected Thursday and Friday, peculiarly exposed areas successful the north.

Met Office lawman main meteorologist Dan Holley said: “Storm Bert marks a displacement to overmuch milder aerial and wintry hazards volition gradually diminish done the weekend, but dense snowfall is expected crossed parts of bluish England and Scotland for a clip connected Saturday, particularly implicit higher ground, and warnings are successful place.

“Heavy rainfall done Saturday and Sunday, particularly successful confederate and occidental parts of the UK, volition besides bring impacts for immoderate with a fig of warnings successful place.

“We expect 50-75mm of rainfall rather wide wrong the informing areas, but successful excess of 100mm is imaginable implicit precocious crushed successful parts of Wales and south-west England.

“In addition, accelerated melting of lying snowfall implicit the play and periods of beardown winds are apt to exacerbate impacts and bring the imaginable for question disruption, arsenic good arsenic flooding for some.”

Yellow warnings for rainfall person been issued from Saturday to Sunday greeting successful south-west England and Wales.

There is already a yellowish informing for dense snowfall connected Saturday followed by a “rapid thaw” and rainfall connected Saturday nighttime successful north-east and north-west England, the West Midlands, Yorkshire, and overmuch of Scotland.

The RAC urged radical to instrumentality attraction connected the roads.

RAC Breakdown spokeswoman Alice Simpson said: “The archetypal sensation of wintertime means drivers are abruptly contending with the immoderate of the worst roadworthy conditions we’ve seen each year.

“With freezing temperatures already causing disruption successful the eastbound and northbound of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and snowfall showers present affecting regions further south, we counsel motorists to program good arsenic crystal forms connected untreated surfaces.”