Highland Council winter road condition and school closure report for Thursday, 12 January 2017

Road condition reports by The Highland Council’s Community Services for the morning of Thursday, 12 January 2017 are as follows:

Ross and Cromarty

All roads affected by snow and Ice, treatment ongoing of all routes and footways in accordance with policy. (2017-Jan-12 09:33)

Badenoch and Strathspey

All routes affected by packed snow and ice which fell overnight and continues falling this morning. 75mm to 100mm laying and drifting. All available resources deployed in systematic treatment. (2017-Jan-12 09:10)

Nairn

All routes affected by snow which fell overnight and continues falling this morning. 50mm to 75mm laying and drifting. All available resources deployed in systematic treatment. (2017-Jan-12 9:08)

Caithness and North Sutherland

All routes affected by snow up to 100mm inland, all routes treated with continued action throughout day, no reported problems. (2017-Jan-12 08:42)

Lochaber

A mixture of snow and hail this morning up to an 1" of snow reported on most routes has been treated and treatments continue Footway Ploughs being deployed to the upper reaches of Fort William treatment of some side roads will also be required (2017-Jan-12 08:12)

Skye, Lochalsh and South West Ross

Nominal cover of hail/snow throughout with sub-zero road surface temperatures. Showers blowing through with accumulations to 50mm on high routes on mainland. Treatment ongoing on Primary & Secondary Routes. (2017-Jan-12 08:12)

Inverness

Snow showers and icy conditions, all routes being treated and footpaths. (2017-Jan-12 08:03)

South and West Sutherland Morning Report

All roads very icy with snow from a covering to 100mm on high ground. All roads treated. (2017-Jan-12 07:59)  Later treatment of the B869 Drumbeg Road due to a gritter breakdown which has now been resolved. In addition, one gritter - while gritting - slid off the road and landed on its side in the Loth area just south of Helmsdale.

Maps of the Council’s gritting routes by priority and policy are available online at www.highland.gov.uk/gritting.

The information provided is a summary of reports from operational staff and is intended to give a general indication of typical conditions in each area at a point in time. It is not intended to imply that any individual route is entirely snow and ice free and drivers must be aware that conditions can change rapidly and make their own assessment of conditions for travelling.

Highland has the longest road network of any council in Scotland and it is not possible to treat every road at the same time. A priority system is applied to treat the areas in greatest need first.

Trunk roads are gritted by BEAR Scotland (North West) for Transport Scotland.

School Closures:

This morning there was only 1 school closed due to bad weather but as the day has progressed there are now 2 Secondary, 10 Primary and 3 Nursery schools closed or partially closed in Highland on Thursday 12 January affecting some 401 pupils.

• Altnaharra Primary:  Closed (bad weather)
• Bower Primary:  Closed (bad weather)
• Cromarty Primary:  Partially closed - closed in the afternoon (no water/heating/power)
• Crossroads Primary:  Closed (bad weather)
• Farr High School (Sutherland), Primary and Nursery:  Closed (bad weather)
• Kinlochbervie High and Primary School:  Closed (bad weather)
• Kinlochewe Primary:  Closed (bad weather)
• Melvich Primary and Nursery:  Closed (bad weather)
• Reay Primary:  Partially closed - closed in the afternoon (bad weather)
• Tongue Primary and Nursery - GM:  Closed (bad weather)

Visit the school closures website for up-to-date information at www.highland.gov.uk/schoolclosures - the page is updated from 7am and cleared each evening. Get alerts of closures on Highland Council’s Twitter and Facebook. Or phone 0800 564 2272 to get the latest pre-recorded message from head teachers regarding their school. Have the school's PIN ready when you call.