More storms on the way as wild winter weather continues

Wild winds will continue to batter Britain today prompting forecasters to warn: “Batten down the hatches!”

A fresh front of wild hurricane force weather is set to threaten power supplies and cause yet more chaos to our transport system.

The damaging gusts are blowing in as Scotland and the north of England struggles to recover from the effects of two deep depressions last week.

The double battering has caused chaos, sparking a probable seven figure insurance pay out.

And to heap misery on commuters the Met Office has warned the damaging wind could last until tomorrow morning.

Again, the north of Scotland will suffer the worst impact of the deepening low pressure system, with gusts predicted to reach 80mph.

But the more highly-populated central belt is in line for winds of between 50 and 60mph and gusts of up to 70mph.

Krista Mitchell, of the Met Office, said: “It just seems to keep on coming.

“Storms across Scotland are not unusual in winter. It’s just that we have seen three in quick succession that makes us notice it more.

“Another low pressure system taking much the same track as the last two last week is moving to the north of Shetland on Monday.

“It’s to the south of this system where we will see the strongest winds. It looks like the worst effects will be felt in the northern isles, western isles and the north west mainland.

“Here gusts could hit 80mph and there’s a warning in place for disruption to transport.”

The chaotic weather continued yesterday after battering the UK from late night on Thursday.

Around 41,000 homes in Scotland were without electricity after both Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) and Scottish Power experienced outages.

Snow and wind remained widespread throughout the country, with the Cairngorms recording gusts as strong as 110mph.

All snowsports were cancelled, with a resort spokesman adding: “If the forecasts are correct, it does not look promising for us to be able to offer any snowsports for the next few days.”

Network Rail and ScotRail both took to Twitter to let passengers know of any disruption, with the former posting that they’d encountered “a number of flooding and ‘wash away’ problems”.

Eric Leister, Meteorologist for AccuWeather.com, warned about the potential of commuting chaos gripping the country.

He said: “This storm will likely lead to travel delays as train services will be impacted. Flights may also be delayed due to the strong winds.”

Stunned locals in Oban, Argyll, watched as a 55ft boat was blown into rocks off the coast.

One resident, John MacAlister said: “We’re now getting very strong winds every two to three hours, whereas 15 years ago we would get gales and rain coming up every two to three days.”

In Glasgow, glass panels on a School of Art building were smashed when temporary guttering from the emergency roof on the neighbouring, fire-damaged Mackintosh building was blown across Renfrew Street.

In Edinburgh Rose Street was partially closed for more than five hours after gusts caused masonry to tumble from the roof of the Roxburghe Hotel.

Deputy First Minister, John Swinney said: “Our primary concern is for the welfare of those who have been left without power as a result of the severe weather this week, in particular those who have been left without electricity for over 24 hours.

“The utility companies are doing an outstanding job in working to restore services in challenging conditions.”