Further weather alert amid widespread flooding, travel disruption and rescues

Heavy rain is to continue into the weekend across parts of Scotland after days of disruption caused by flooding saw three people rescued.

Areas across the north east, including Angus, Perth and Kinross and Aberdeenshire, have been battered by days of torrential rainfall this week, causing severe flooding.

A Met Office yellow rain alert remains in force until 11.59pm on Friday. A fresh yellow warning covering Angus, Perth and Kinross, Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire has been issued over the weekend.

The alert comes into effect at midnight on Saturday and lasts for 33 hours, until 9am on Sunday.

Forecasters say a three-day spell of very wet weather has brought rainfall in excess of 100mm, with a further day of fairly persistent and at times heavy rain expected.

Many places are likely to see a further 20-30mm of rain, and a few spots could see 50mm.

Above 400-500 metres, much of this will fall as snow, with rain confined to areas below this level.

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SEPA currently has 22 flood warnings and seven amber flood alerts in place across much of the north.

The deluge caused significant disruption in the region over the past few days, with a section of the A90 being closed due to flooding. This left the rural hamlet of Bogindollo cut off for almost four hours.

The A9 south of Ballinluig and the A85 between St Fillans and Lochearnhead were also flooded.

The A84 south of Callander is currently restricted due to standing water.

Two people were rescued from a vehicle in floodwater at Kintore Debs Lamb

Footage shared on social media showed no access on the road to Banchory from Cairn O’Mount due to deep flooding.

BEAR NW Trunk Roads shared images of the “sheer volume of water” from the hillside next to the A85 between Crieff and Lochearnhead.

Two people were rescued from a minibus stuck in flood water on the B977 outside Kintore in Aberdeenshire on Thursday morning.

Fire crews deployed specialist water rescue units to the scene.

In a separate incident at around the same time near Banchory, one person was rescued from a car.

Cows flee flood water and roads impassable in the north Fubar News

A SFRS spokesperson added: “We were alerted at 8.32am on Thursday to reports of a vehicle in flood water near the B976 in Banchory, Aberdeenshire.

“Operations control mobilised two fire appliances and specialist water rescue units to the area.

“One casualty was removed from the car and guided to a place of safety. They were then checked over at the scene by the Scottish Ambulance Service.”

The River Dee rose quickly, with one clip showing cows fleeing their submerged field in deep water. The banks of the River Don also experienced fast-flowing water.

Network Rail has confirmed that speed restrictions have been put in place on a number of routes across the country, including the Inverness-Aberdeen route, to ensure passenger safety.

The restrictions remain in place on a number of Friday services.

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Wintry conditions to return

The significant rainfall could be followed by a plummet in temperature from around Burns Day, bringing a renewed risk of icy conditions and snow that could persist into February.

The cold spell at the start of January arrived from the north, but this time the air looks set to come from the east, which can often be even colder.

Insight Sean Batty STV weather presenter

I know whenever I write stories like this, some people respond with “it’s just winter,” and of course, that’s true.

However, it’s been several years since we’ve experienced such a prolonged period of colder-than-average conditions, and it’s relatively rare to see two notable cold spells within the same month.

The kind of conditions we’ve seen this January are now around half as likely as they would have been in the past.

Long-range forecasting is about identifying trends across many computer models rather than focusing on any single outcome.

Some runs show sub-zero daytime temperatures and lows of around –8C in Glasgow by the end of January, while others point to much milder conditions, with highs near 8C and lows of 6C.

This widespread is exactly why caution is needed when looking more than a week ahead.

However, when those extremes are stripped out, the overall trend indicates a noticeable drop in temperatures over the coming week.

This is also why claims circulating on social media about specific conditions weeks in advance should be taken with a very large pinch of salt – they usually rely on cherry-picking one model from many possible scenarios.

Another unusual feature is the presence of high-pressure systems over Scandinavia, something that has been far less common in recent winters but was a more familiar pattern during the 1980s.

I’ve just returned from a conference in Andorra, where one of the speakers was Dr Paul Williams from the University of Reading.

He discussed how the jet stream is changing in a warming world, with evidence suggesting it may be slowing and becoming more meandering at lower levels.

This can encourage more “blocking” patterns in the atmosphere – the setups that can bring colder spells in winters and hotter conditions in summers.

It’s important to stress, though, that even when we talk about colder conditions today, they tend not to be as severe as those experienced a few decades ago, because global temperatures overall have risen.