Highland Council winter road condition and school closure report for Wednesday 17 January 2018

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.

Road condition reports by The Highland Council’s Community Services for Wednesday 18 January 2018 are as follows:

Ross and Cromarty: There has been heavy snowfall through the night across the whole area with some significant accumulations and drifting in places. The Bealach Na Ba road is currently closed due to significant snowfall. Attempts are being made to try and reopen it. As at 09:08

Caithness and North Sutherland: North Sutherland roads have had 2 to 4 inches of snow fall through the night and crews are ploughing this off. In Caithness there has been 2-3 inches of snowfall overnight with some drifting on inland routes. As at 09:05

South Sutherland: There has been heavy snowfall through the night with 5cm on low ground and up to 15cm on high ground. Drifts of up to 3ft are on some of the higher routes. All routes are being bladed/ploughed and treated as necessary. As at 08:27

Skye and Lochalsh:  Over North Skye 2-3 inches of snow had fallen overnight. It is clearing well and crews are treating routes in order of priority. The western areas and southern routes on the Island also have  2-3 inches of snow which crews are clearing. Over the mainland there is  4-5 inches of snow coming down to sea level and again these routes are being treated in order of priority. As at 08:38

Lochaber:  Heavy fall of snow overnight with up to 3" in places. Routes have been bladed and treatment of roads and footpaths is on-going. As at 08:47

Nairn: This morning there was 3 to 4cm of snow in the town. Higher roads have a dusting to 1 to 2cms. Roads being treated in order of priority. As at 08:10

Badenoch and Strathspey:  In the North end of the area this morning there was 7 to 10 cms of snow on roads. From Aviemore southwards snow depths go from 20cms to 25cms. Roads being treated throughout the day. As at 08:17

Inverness:  This morning there was 1" of snow cover from overnight on low roads with 6"-8" fall overnight on high roads which is drifting in places. All routes are being bladed and gritted. As at 07:18

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: 

As at 12 noon today a total of 17 secondary schools, 75 primary schools (including 54 nurseries) and 2 special schools across the Highlands are closed due to the weather. Secondary Primary schools

Details of these school closures are at www.highland.govuk/schoolclosures

PLEASE NOTE other schools may close during the day so please visit the school closures website for up-to-date information

The page is updated from 7am and cleared each evening by 6pm. 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.