Weather / Transport disruptions as winter arrives

AS A FIRST spell of wintery weather is hitting the isles over coming days, motorists and people travelling on the ferries are being warned to expect some delays and disruptions.

As the winds are set to swing around to the north, a yellow Met office warning for ice and snow has been issued for the north of Scotland from 4pm on Sunday.

There is little snow expected to fall in Shetland, but ice is likely to form on untreated roads.

The cold spell is expected to persist throughout next week.

Shetland Islands Council said gritting teams will treat roads “as necessary” and advised people to take extra care on untreated surfaces.

Some inter island services such as Whalsay and Bressay were suspended first thing on Saturday morning. The service across Bluemull Sound continues to be tied up due to the weather conditions.

Meanwhile, both NorthLink services will operate tonight (Saturday) but arrivals at Aberdeen and Lerwick are expected up to two hours later than timetabled.

Flights at Sumburgh operate as scheduled, though Friday night’s Edinburgh flight was two hours late after the plane developed a fault at Kirkwall airport and passengers had to been flown north on a replacement aircraft.

A detailed forecast for different parts of Shetland can be found on our weather pages here.