Highland Council winter road condition and school closure report for Friday 8  December 2017 

Road condition reports by The Highland Council’s Community Services for the morning of Friday 8 December 2017 are as follows:

Caithness and North Sutherland:  Minus road surface temperatures with up to an inch of snow on all lower routes and 5" of snow with drifting on the highest routes. All roads are being treated
with salt and are currently passable with care. 09:10

South Sutherland: A covering of 2cm of snow on lower routes and up to 10cm on higher routes. On-going blading and treatment on-going by crews. 08:16

Ross and Cromarty:  Minus road surface temperatures across the whole area. A dusting of frozen snow is affecting most routes at the start of treatment resulting in slippy conditions. All routes being treated with salt and bladed where necessary. Further snow fall this morning is affecting all routes but roads are currently all passable with care. Treatment will be ongoing as required throughout the day.09:58

Skye, Lochalsh and South West Ross: There is a widespread dusting of frozen hail and snow with localised 2-3" of snow on highest ground. Treatment is ongoing on both Primary and Secondary routes. 09:00

Lochaber: Snow covering on routes across the area. Crews are out blading and  necessary treatment is on- going. 08:42

Badenoch and Strathspey:  Minus road surface temperatures on routes with 1"- 2" inches of snow on lower roads. Higher roads have 3"-4" of snow with localised drifting. All routes are being scraped and treated with salt.07:39

Nairn: Minus road surface temperatures on routes. Lower roads across the area have 1/2" - 1" of snow while higher roads have 2" of snow. There is some localised drifting on high routes. All roads are being scraped and treated with salt. 08:12

Inverness:  There is a frozen dusting of snow on low roads with a 2" covering of snow on high roads. All routes to be gritted this morning plus bladed where required. 06:25

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: All of the following schools and their associated nurseries are either closed all day today or are closing early.

Ardross Primary:
Balnain Primary: 
Bonar Bridge Primary: 
Bower Primary: 
Castletown Primary
Craighill Primary:  Partially closed - closed in the afternoon
Cromarty Primary:  Partially closed – opening 1 hour later
Crossroads Primary:
Croy Primary: 
Daviot Primary: 
Dornoch Academy:
Dornoch Primary:
Dunbeath Primary: 
Durness Primary: 
Farr High School: 
Farr Primary (Inv):
Farr Primary (Suth):
Foyers Primary;
Glen Urquhart High School;
Golspie High School: 
Hill of Fearn Primary:  Partially closed - closed in the afternoon
Hilton of Cadboll Primary: 
Inver Primary:  Partially closed - closed in the afternoon
Keiss Primary: 
Kinlochbervie High School: 
Kinlochbervie Primary: 
Kinlochewe Primary: 
Knockbreck Primary (Tain):  Partially closed - closed in the afternoon
Lybster Primary: 
Miller Academy Primary: 
Newton Park Primary: 
Noss Primary: 
Pennyland Primary: 
Plockton High School:
Plockton Primary: 
Rogart Primary: 
Scourie Primary: 
St Duthus School:
Strathdearn Primary: 
Stratherrick Primary: 
Tarbat Old Primary:  Partially closed - closed in the afternoon
Thrumster Primary: 
Thurso High School: 
Tongue Primary: 
Watten Primary: 
Wick High School:  Closed (damage to school building)

Total schools closed

Secondary schools: 8 (2515 pupils)
Primary schools: 37 (2803 pupils)
Special schools: 1 (18 pupils)
Nurseries: 22 (528 children)

PLEASE NOTE other schools may close during the day so please 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.

Please be aware that very low temperatures are expected overnight and tomorrow. Please check on neighbours keeping an eye out for anyone that needs help and take extra precautions and care if travel is necessary.

 

8 Dec 2017