Highland Council winter road condition report for Thursday, 31 January 2019
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 Thursday, 31 January 2019 are as follows:
- Badenoch & Strathspey as at 09:31: Very cold morning, ice on untreated roads. All roads being checked and treated by priority and policy.
- Lochaber as at 09:26: Very cold start to the morning throughout the area. Ice and frost on all roads. treatment on going. No known overnight issues.
- Skye & Lochalsh as at 08:58: Very cold night with no additional showers reported. Treatment currently ongoing on Primary & Secondary Routes and will continue on to Other Routes.
- Ross and Cromarty as at 08:39 Very cold morning with hard packed snow and ice particularly in the West. All routes being treated as required within policy.
- Nairn as at 08:24: Very cold start to the morning throughout the area. No snow as forecasted but ice and frost on all roads. No known overnight issues.
- South Sutherland as at 08:23: A very hard frost this morning with frozen slush / snow on most routes which is slow to shift, all routes being treated with a salt / sand mix.
- Caithness and North Sutherland as at 08:03: Very icy this morning with rain and sleet falling onto frozen roads in Caithness which is readily forming ice even on roads which have been treated. Up to 2 inches of snow in Sutherland with drivers reporting air temperatures as low as -12. Frozen snow affecting most routes and proving very difficult to shift.
- Inverness as at 05:56: Very cold start to the day with some road surface temperatures as low as -9 but roads are fairly dry. Some icy patches found on patrols especially on higher ground. Topping up salt levels with 10gm on all morning routes and continuing to cover footpaths No other issues reported.
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:
The following schools and nurseries were either closed or partially closed:
- Badcaul Primary: Closed (severe road conditions)
- Bualnaluib Primary and Nursery: Closed (severe road conditions)
- Dunvegan Primary and Nursery - GM: Partially closed – opening 2 hours late (bad weather)
- Durness Primary: Partially closed – opening 1 hour later (bad weather)
- Edinbane Primary: Partially closed – opening 2 hours late (bad weather)
- Gairloch High, Primary, Nursery – EM & GM: Closed (severe road conditions)
- Kinlochbervie High School: Partially closed – opening 1 hour later (bad weather)
- Kinlochbervie Primary: Partially closed – opening 1 hour later (bad weather)
- Kinlochewe Primary and Nursery: Closed (severe road conditions)
- Poolewe Primary and Nursery: Closed (severe road conditions)
- Scourie Primary: Partially closed – opening 1 hour later (bad weather)
- Shieldaig Primary and Nursery: Closed (severe road conditions)
The schools closures page on the Council’s website at: https://www.highland.gov.uk/schoolclosures 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.