Storm Caroline: Severe weather leaves more than 4,000 people without power

SEVERE gales and snow showers have caused travel disruption, school closures and left more than 4,000 people without power as Storm Caroline sweeps in to the UK.

Forecasters are warning of a danger to life, with gusts of up to 90mph possible in northern parts of Scotland.

Flights and ferry services have been cancelled while dozens of schools are closed across the north of the country.

Rail passengers have also faced disruption, with trains cancelled after a trampoline blew onto the line in East Renfrewshire and services suspended elsewhere.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) said power has been safely restored to more than 3,900 customers, mainly on the Western Isles and north-west Highlands, with about 780 homes without power as of 12pm on Thursday.

However, SSEN said the full impact of Storm Caroline has not yet been felt across much of its network and it is expected there will be further faults throughout Thursday.

Bitterly cold winds will affect the whole of the UK through Friday – actual temperatures won't be far of freezing but it will feel like it is closer to -7 ºC in places! Stay #weatheraware pic.twitter.com/Grss6yFfK4

— Met Office (@metoffice) December 7, 2017

SSEN said wind gusts in excess of 85mph were recorded in the Western Isles while Mountaineering Scotland tweeted that a gust of 116mph was recorded on Cairngorm.

A 73mph gust was recorded at Stornoway Airport while a 69mph gust was measured at Altnaharra in Sutherland and 68mph in South Uist on Thursday morning, the Met Office said.

Met Office meteorologist John West said: “Storm Caroline is well on its way across northern parts of the UK.

“There will be devastating winds in some parts. More broadly across Scotland there will be 60mph-70mph gusts, but in exposed areas we could see 90mph.”

The strong wind warning is valid from 6am until 11.55pm on Thursday, with an amber warning for northern Scotland.

The Met Office has warned of flying debris that could lead to injuries or danger to life while damage to property is also possible.

A yellow “be aware” warning is in force for the southern half of Scotland and parts of the north of Northern Ireland between 6am and 6pm as well.

All schools and nurseries in Lewis, Harris and Uist in the Western Isles are closed to pupils on Thursday as a precaution while 31 primary schools, five secondary schools and 19 nurseries in the Highland Council area and two schools in Aberdeenshire are shut.

Train services have been suspended between Aberdeen and Inverness, Inverness and Wick, Inverness and Kyle of Lochalsh as well as some Glasgow Queen Street routes to the west coast.

Rail passengers faced disruption after a trampoline blew onto the line in East Renfrewshire.

Train services between Glasgow Central and Neilston were cancelled or delayed while staff removed the obstacle.

ScotRail tweeted: “There is a trampoline blocking the line in the Patterton area. Please remember to secure garden furniture/trampolines if you live near the railway tracks.”

The line reopened after the trampoline was removed and services began returning to normal.

Some flights in the western isles were cancelled.

Caledonian MacBrayne ferry services between Tarbert and Lochranza, Oban and Tiree via Coll and Ullapool and Stornoway were cancelled for the rest of the day while many other routes are facing disruption.

The Forth Road Bridge and Tay Road Bridge are closed to double-decker buses while the Skye and Kessock bridges are closed to high-sided vehicles.

A North Sea platform shut down production due to safety fears over weather conditions caused by Storm Caroline.

There have been snow showers across high ground in Scotland.

During Thursday afternoon, a mixture of sleet and snow showers will work their way across the whole of Britain, with the potential for blizzard conditions in Scotland.

Forecasters have issued a yellow severe weather warning for snow and ice on Friday which covers much of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and parts of northern and western England.