ALL COUNCIL-RUN schools nurseries and specialist education provision will be closed for a second day tomorrow (Thursday).
The council has taken the decision with a red 'take action' weather warning - the most serious possible - having been issued by the Met Office for between 3pm today (Wednesday) and 10am tomorrow.
SEVERE WEATHER/SCHOOLS UPDATE: All East Lothian Council schools, nurseries and specialist education provision will remain closed to pupils tomorrow (Thursday, 1 March). A Met Office Red Warning for snow is in place. Further updates will be provided here when available.
— East Lothian Council (@ELCouncil) February 28, 2018
The red warning - the first ever issued in East Lothian, and the first red warning for snow ever issued in Scotland - means that risk to life is 'likely'.
ScotRail has announced that all services in the 'red' weather warning zone - including East Lothian - have been shut down until at least late morning tomorrow.
🔴⚠️UPDATE: Here's the latest service update and details of the last services running in the Met Office RED warning area. @transcotland @trafficscotland @policescotland @ReadyScotland pic.twitter.com/MaWIcbYGWj
— ScotRail (@ScotRail) February 28, 2018
People are being advised not to travel unless absolutely necessary while the warning is at amber, and during the hours of the red warning no travel is advised.
Many cars are stuck on the A720 City of Edinburgh Bypass, which has suffered badly from the snowfall, with drivers told to avoid the road. Cars currently on the eastbound carriageway are expected to be stuck for four to five hours.
On the #A720 stay IN your car assistance is on route
— Traffic Scotland (@trafficscotland) February 28, 2018
If you're thinking about travelling on A720 DON'T
Let 👮♀️ and 👷 treat the issue pic.twitter.com/D0k8Bn1EXb
Prentice Coaches, based in Haddington, have announced their services will end for the day at 2pm.
**SERVICE UPDATE** Due to a RED WEATHER WARNING from 1400 today we've taken the difficult decision to terminate all bus services for the day
— Prentice of Haddington (@prenticecoaches) February 28, 201
All Borders Buses serving East Lothian were cancelled early this morning.
East Coast Buses gave the following service update this evening:
CUSTOMER INFORMATION
— East Coast Buses (@EastCoastBuses) February 28, 2018
BUS SERVICES THIS EVENING
PLEASE SHARE#eastlothian #travel #edintravel pic.twitter.com/4daRdgCs2e
All enjoyleisure facilities closed at 2.30pm today (Wednesday) and re-open at 10.30am tomorrow, while all council libraries closed at 2pm.
Loretto School in Musselburgh was open, but classes finished at 2pm, while The Compass School was shut all day (see tweet below).
Due to the adverse weather conditions and the forecast for further severe weather today across East Lothian, in the interests of safety and in accordance with advice from Police Scotland, the School will be closed today, Wednesday 28 February.
— The Compass School (@TheCompassSchUK) February 28, 2018
Queen Margaret University in Musselburgh has also announced its campus is shut tomorrow.
Severe Weather Conditions: Closure of @QMUniversity Campus. The QMU campus will be closed from 2pm today (Wednesday) because of the severe weather conditions and there will be no classes. The campus will also be closed tomorrow. For more info >> https://t.co/4TDNg8WvGU pic.twitter.com/eGlG2482HI
— QueenMargaretUni (@QMUniversity) February 28, 2018
The local authority has also confirmed that the B6355 and C133 rural roads from Gifford to Whiteadder and the Scottish Borders are closed due to drifting snow.
As it stands, all other roads in East Lothian remain passable with extreme care and gritting operations continue on priority routes.
A statement on East Lothian Council's website said: "The gritters are treating priority routes first, then continuing through to secondary routes, but streets within housing areas may remain untreated for a while.
"All schools are closed. Some refuse collections may not be made today in outlying areas but householders are advised to put their bins out and they will be uplifted where possible.
"Our Recycling Centre on Spott Road, Dunbar, has closed and the other Recycling Centres at Kinwegar, Macmerry and North Berwick will close today at 2pm. This decision is in the health and safety interests of users and staff."
Humza Yousaf MSP, Scotland's transport minister, has also urged people not to travel.
Looking at live traffic cameras & still seeing far too much traffic on trunk road network. Our advice for last 2days has been to avoid travel
— Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) February 28, 2018
Can I reiterate, if you travel you're putting yourself at risk & possibly in danger. Don't take weather warnings lightly @trafficscotland
The red warning is in place because of the heavy snow and bitterly cold temperatures as the 'Beast from the East' arrives from Siberia.
A red severe weather warning for #snow has been issued for the central belt of Scotland. Follow advice from the local authorities and emergency services @ReadyScotland#UKSnow#WeatherAware #StaySafe pic.twitter.com/kkQT4RQK7u
— Met Office (@metoffice) February 28, 2018
Police have advised everybody not to travel on the roads at all today.
Our pals @policescotland have issued a travel warning to AVOID TRAVELLING ON THE ROADS in 👇
— Traffic Scotland (@trafficscotland) February 28, 2018
Central, Tayside & Fife
Grampian
Highlands
SW Scotland, Lothian & BOrders
Strathclyde pic.twitter.com/AMTcdpYi91
The Met Office says that long delays and cancellations on bus, rail and air travel could occur.
Roads may become blocked by deep snow, with many stranded vehicles and passengers.
It adds that some rural communities might be cut off for several days.
Racing had been scheduled at Musselburgh Racecourse today (Wednesday) but was postponed yesterday morning.
And the tweet below shows the racecourse under snow. . .
#TheBeastFromTheEast has hit #musselburghraces this morning ❄️ pic.twitter.com/aeOwveet1w
— Musselburgh Races (@MusselburghRace) February 28, 2018
Boxing organisers have also been forced to cancel a public workout due to take place in Glasgow this afternoon ahead of Josh Taylor's title defence against Winston Campos at the SSE Hydro on Saturday.
Due to the extreme weather, Cyclone Promotions have been forced to cancel today's public workout for Taylor vs Campos at the St. Enoch Centre.
— Cyclone Promotions (@CyclonePromo) February 28, 2018
Tomorrow's final press conference will take place at Oran Mor (Byres Road, Glasgow, G12 8QX) at 12.30pm. Stay safe and warm folks!
Meanwhile, there could also be long interruptions to power supplies and other services such as telephone and mobile phone networks .
Strong winds could also lead to snow drifting in places.
The winds will also drop the already sub-zero temperatures even further - temperatures are not expected to rise above -2C all day but with windchill could feel as cold as -10C.
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