Winter Makes Dramatic Comeback To Northern UK With Lightning, Blizzards & Gusts of 129 mph

Written by Mark Vogan on January 11, 2017 in Rest of Europe, United Kingdom & Ireland, Winter 2016/17 with 0 Comments

As forecast, a deep low passing just north of the Scottish mainland is producing a rough day from Caithness southward into Northern England with strong, gusty gale-force winds which are driving in frequent showers of rain, sleet, hail and snow as well as thunder and lightning.

Credit: AccuWeather

Winds were gusty overnight with the passage of the cold front! While winds gusted to 129 mph over Cairngorm, a lorry was blown over on the Forth Rd Bridge around 0200.

Credit: Traffic Scotland

The incident on the Forth Rd Bridge closed the entire bridge and remained closed during the Wednesday morning rush.

Credit: Traffic Scotland

With the lorry blowing on the central reserve grill, significant damage was caused.

Credit: Traffic Scotland

As you can imagine, this caused travel headaches throughout central Scotland and clogged surrounding routes.

Credit: Traffic Scotland

Further south, winds gusted to 93 mph over High Bradfield, Peak District, South Yorkshire while Emley Moor, North Yorkshire gusted 77 mph.

Ahead of the front yesterday it was relatively mild but as the cold front sweeps southeast through today, the temperature shall continue to fall along with snow levels.

To clarify, the incoming UK cold is not from Europe (Siberia) but from North America!

Credit: Liam Dutton

Credit: EUSTORM

Yellow Met Office ‘be prepared’ warnings are in place for wind and snow today.

Credit: Met Office

Into Thursday and winds remain gale-force, locally severe across Scotland with frequent snow showers piling in, providing significant accumulation to high ground and even to lower levels down near sea level.

Factoring in air temp 1-4C and gale-force NNW at 20-40, gusting 60-70, wind chills for all will be in the -3 to -6C category and -15 to -25C over the Highlands!