Weather update Tuesday 5 January 2010

Review of current road conditions:  Good progress was made on Monday in clearing Priority 3 and 4 routes. The return of heavy snow today (Tuesday) has seen the snow clearing effort return to Priority 1 and 2 routes.

Winter maintenance crews have been assisted by grounds maintenance and building maintenance staff in clearing footpaths and accesses to the homes of elderly and vulnerable neighbours.

Forecast projections:  There is no sign of a let up in the weather with snow forecast for tomorrow (Wednesday) and low temperatures, as low as -15% expected over the weekend.

Salt Supplies:  The Council received a supply of 3,000 tonnes of salt today (Tuesday) at Inverness Harbour and expects a further 3,000 tonnes on Friday.  This morning we had a total of 13,800 tonnes in stock, sufficient to keep us going for a week.

Customer Services Centre:  1,651 calls dealt with up until 5 pm today, most focused on snow clearing and bin collections. Very few complaints received. Aviemore, Grantown and Kingussie Services Points were closed today because of the heavy snow in that area.

Registration:   Anyone having difficulty getting to a registration office should telephone Inverness Registration Office, who will arrange for registrations to be postponed as necessary.  The limit of 21 days to register a birth and 8 days to register a death can be extended in these exceptional circumstances. The public can register a birth, death or marriage at any registration office in Scotland.