Fife Weather: Red alert for snow

The warning, which lasts from 3pm today and 10am tomorrow, comes as schools across Fife have been closed and residents were warned not to travel.

The Met Office says of the red alert: “Heavy snow showers and drifting of lying snow in the strong easterly winds will become more widespread across the area later on Wednesday afternoon, through the evening and overnight into Thursday.

“Roads will become blocked by deep snow, with many stranded vehicles and passengers.

“Long delays and cancellations on bus, rail and air travel are expected. Some communities could become cut off for several days.

“Long interruptions to power supplies and other services.”

Transport has also been badle affected, with buses being hit by the snow.

A spokeswoman for Stagecoach East Scotland said: “Due to adverse weather conditions we are currently suffering from delays, diversions and cancellations on a number of routes in the Fife, Dundee, Angus and Perthshire areas. Safety is our absolute priority and we may continue to cancel or curtail certain journeys where we feel it is not safe to proceed.

“We will continue to monitor road and weather conditions however we’re doing all we can with available resources to maintain our network as much as possible during these difficult conditions. Customers are advised to check the service updates sections of our website (stagecoachbus.com) or our Twitter feed (@StagecoachEScot) for updates on our services.”

In a later update, the spokeswoman added: “The Met Office now confirm a red warning will be in place across the region from 3pm today, therefore our advice is to commence journeys home ASAP as we cannot guarantee services will operate beyond this time.”

ScotRail has already cancelled a number of services going through Fife.

Looking ahead, the Met Office said of the coming weather: “Snow showers already affecting the area will become heavier and more prolonged later on Wednesday afternoon and at times through the evening and overnight period, with 5 cm of snow falling within an hour in some places and lying snow reaching 20-30 cm and possibly 40 cm in a few places by mid morning on Thursday.

“Strong easterly winds will lead to significant drifting of lying snow.”