Transportation and other disruption likely Sunday Monday - Storm Isha

Bumping this back up as it has fallen to the third page

thanks Kim .

The whole County of Cumbria is now under amber warning. Cumberland County has issued a long update and warning tonight, but one of the specific instructions is to stay off the fells (the hills and mountains) during Sunday and Monday to avoid causing uncalled for risk to the rescue services. Also to be very cautious if visiting any coastal location, due to the risks from high winds and high waves- the latter sweeping you into the sea.

If out and about (even in urban areas) expect flying debris.

The County is expecting substantial disruption to travel (which will affect Anglo Scottish travel) and potentially widespread power outages. The County Resilience team is being convened for the duration of the storm which may last for 3 to 4 days on current predictions.

And for those who don't know the North of Scotland has had substantial snow all week. Shetland in particular has been hard hit. Many schools have been closed all week, there are still a number of roads closed by snow drifts, and for the second Sunday on the row a number of Church services are cancelled to keep people safe.
Although a long way north Shetland does not tend to get heavy snow. When it does it is normally fairly transitory.

Thinking about all of you there - it seems like it has been a weather intense winter!

My word! Nigel (Carol) and Stuart - take care, stay in, stay down.

Stuart, I've been seeing a lot of pictures on FB from both Shetland and Orkney of the snow there. Very windy as well so it's drifty across the roads too.

Scotrail will withdraw all trains (other than in the Central belt) from 7pm tonight Sunday, with no alternative provision. They will restart on Monday only when the storm has blown through and lines have been inspected.

In the Central Belt a blanket 40mph speed restriction will be in place, with no warning disruption likely.

Avanti have a do not travel notice for all of Sunday for their whole network. Speed restrictions and cancellations in place, I would expect all services north of Preston to be disrupted or withdrawn after early evening under a red notice, meaning no assistance to complete your journey,

LNER are not running beyond Edinburgh all day.

Caledonian Sleeper will not run northbound, but will hold both trains at Euston as static hotel trains. Whether they run as day trains on Monday remains to be seen, or pax may have to travel on Avanti or LNER on Monday.

The southbound services are currently uncertain.

What a mess! Our UK friends are really getting hit this winter !!

Stay safe and dry and warm !

well I am between the two Amber Warnings this afternoon, but my goodness is it having a blow! Was going out to the shops but have stayed inside other than running out to the compost pile. Nearly got blown over, and as I say, we're not in the rough bit.

Up north and down south, be sure to carry an anchor if you go out! And I hope your lights stay on.

The entire Scottish rail network is now closed, and will remain so until at least Monday afternoon.

LNER are unable to run north of Newcastle. Avanti are unable to run north of Preston.

according to the BBC Avanti West Coast have cancelled all their services for and there will be significant disruption tomorrow, Monday

fallen trees have forced cancellation of all GWR trains between Exeter and Barnstable.

GWR trains between London Paddington and Penzance in Cornwall are creeping along, there is a speed restriction imposed for safety.

There are now restrictions on most rail companies throughout Wales and England.

Check on your train and check https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service-disruptions/severe-weather-20240118/

The following Train Operating Companies have issued weather related travel information and advice via links on the page linked just above:

• Avanti West Coast
• Caledonian Sleeper
• Chiltern Railways
• CrossCountry
• East Midlands Railway
• Gatwick Express
• Great Northern
• Great Western Railway
• Greater Anglia
• LNER
• London Northwestern Railway
• Lumo
• Merseyrail
• Northern
• ScotRail (all services in Scotland cancelled)
• Southeastern
• Southern
• South Western Railway
• Thameslink
• TransPennine Express
• Transport for Wales

fallen trees have forced cancellation of all GWR trains between Exeter and Barnstable.

The closure of the Barnstaple line is due to a damaged bridge. Until the bridge is assessed there is no time frame to re-open the line. GWR are also unable to run road replacement due to no availability of vehicles. Use local bus services.

EDITED- Replacement buses have now been recruited.

This morning is the relative calm after a rough night, but Avanti and Trans Pennine are still unable to run any service north of Preston, and all Northern Rail services in Cumbria (except to Newcastle) to Carlisle are currently cancelled due to flooding at multiple locations including Carlisle Station itself. No road replacements can be provided.

Cumbria has large numbers of power outages, many of which are not expected to be fixed today.

LNER and other companies are trying to run services as far north as Dunbar, but most trains are Newcastle to London only.

The whole Scottish rail network remains closed, pending damage assessment. All operators will allow ticket use for Sunday or today for at least two days after lines re-open. This applies to all ticket types, for travel on any train. No action is needed to revalidate tickets.

Monitor the various company websites for when lines re-open.

And as they say on pop song radio stations, 'the hits just keep on coming"

https://www.express.co.uk/news/weather/1858406/storm-jocelyn-to-hit-UK-hours-after-isha

Looks like more 'hunkering' and very busy/tired repair crews of all sort.

More storms to come.

North America is VERY COLD. This cold air has gone out into the Atlantic Ocean and meeting warm air coming from Africa. This along with the difference in sea water temperature is generating these big storms.

You can track the predicted path of these storms on this website:>https://www.windy.com/-Clouds-clouds?clouds,47.606,-24.038,4

(It is also interesting to change it to Temperatures / Waves/ Sea Temperatures).

All relatively calm at the moment.

Here is a webcam at Dawlish which includes the railway between Exeter & Plymouth. This bit if the coast faces south east so does not get the worst of the Atlantic weather - though it can get very bad with at times.

This afternoon I have been listening to the weekly USLHS podcast. And the coasts of Maine and New Hampshire have apparently been badly hit by a succession of storms. Over a dozen lighthouses in Maine alone (which have stood for well over a century, in some cases nearly two centuries) badly damaged.
So the UK has not been alone this winter.

All lines in Scotland will again close by 7pm on Tuesday night, only slowly re-opening during Wednesday. All Anglo-Scottish and Sleeper services will conclude their journeys in Scotland by that time and not re-start on Wednesday until lines have been checked for damage.

For keeping on top of major storm names, the one yesterday was Isha, a nasty beast.

Tomorrow's storm is named Jocelyn. We don't get recovery time between storms.

Last week's big flooding storm was Henk - the fastest to "H" in UK history.

How are you Nigel after the latest storm…Jocelyn I believe? My goodness….it sounds as if certain areas there have been pounded over and over again. Hopeful not too much damage and devastation. There was even an article in our local newspaper

Some areas are hard hit. In the whole of Scotland the railways are really struggling to re-open and recover. Many, if not most lines have been closed or barely open since Sunday. Where, I live in Cumbria, last night I struggled to sleep for the wind and the torrential rain. I got up at 4.30am to go on a day out (that was work, not pleasure)- only to find that our local rail line is blocked for the third or fourth time in a week- this time by a tree, but there has been flooding and the signalling was also destroyed (for the 2nd time this winter) earlier in the week 2 miles away by waves over the railway sea wall.

Flooding wise the worst will come later in the week as water works it's way through the systems.

For those who say drive- the M6- the motorway/freeway through the county was blocked all day on Monday when 14 wagons were blown over. And the A69 (the main road to Newcastle) blocked by flooding.