03/01/2012 Newsnight Scotland

Tonight on Newsnight Scotland, yet another new year dominated by foul

weather. A year since the biggest of freezes, today much of Scotland

suffered record-breaking storms. We'll ask exactly why today's storm

was worse than expected, what the authorities have learned and what

we can expect to happen next. Good evening. Happy new year. Well,

it's not been a happy start for the tens of thousands of households who

lost electricity because of the storms, while thousands more who

have seen their homes or other property damaged by gusts close to

100mph. Official forecasts predicted last night that the

country would be hit by seriously windy weather. Today was still a

holiday for many people in Scotland. There's a feeling tonight that

things could have been worse. First, David Allison has compiled the

story of the day. Footage from traffic cameras look like a

Hollywood disaster movie. Vehicles moved cautiously trying to avoid

obstacles like fallen trees. But the winds in the city centre the M8

was closed after lorries overturned. High winds and high tide meant the

collide burst its banks in the city centre, and anything not fixed down

For those trying to brave the elements and get to work, it was

The Met Office had predicted winds of up to 80mph, but the reality was

gusts up to 102, which registered in Edinburgh. This is certainly

worse than the 8th December last year. We've got values around 20 or

even 25mph higher in both the Glasgow and Edinburgh areas, which

takes us back again to the Boxing Day storm of '98. The Christmas

tree in George Square was brought down and rail services came it a

halt. The train this morning to catch the

ferry, the only good news is I'm not on a ferry in the Irish Sea at

the moment, which is probably worse than being in Glasgow. I don't know

what the ferries are like at the moment. It was very rough last week

when I was working. I don't know what it's like today. I'm waiting

for the line to clear. I'll get there eventually. You can't control

the weather. What can you do, you can't do anything about it, can

you? Try again tomorrow. Damage to buildings was widespread,

including this one near Glasgow. The wind -- the wind was blowing

really high, the next thing was the bricks and all that all come down.

Viewers sent in their own pictures In leedge a wheelie bin was blown

hundreds of yards down the street. And trees which had stood for

decades were felled. We today been a Scottish Bank Holiday, people

tended to be philosophical. electricity, no trains. Everything

from brickwork flying around and Considering the massive forces

unleashed by Mother Nature, we appear to have got off relatively

lightly, apart for the need for a massive clear up.

Scotland's Transport Minister is Keith Brown. You'll recall he was

appointed just over a year ago when his predecessor stepped down after

particularly unpleasant weather. A short while ago he came into our

studio. I asked him to describe the problems he'd faced this morning.

Mainly through falling debris and trees, particularly on roads and

also on railways. That causes major problems, especially the railways.

First, they have to be removed. For that, there are over 350 teams out

with chain sauz to remove them. After those trees were removed the

lines have to be made clear and certified as clear of all obstacles

for safe running of trains. It caused significant problems. In

addition to that, there were problems with power lines. Even

some masonry in built up areas came off roofs and so on. You were

expecting a big wind. You weren't quite expecting that, were you?

advice from the Met yesterday was an amber warning, very high winds

between 75-80mph. Today that changed, first thing this morning

it said it was going to be a red alert. That changed things. The

wind speeds got up to 103mph in Edinburgh. That changed in the

course of the night. Obviously things are quieter today because

it's a public holiday. We had all the problems last winter. This is

the third big wind we've had in the past month. Is there any evidence,

this is different because it's a bank holiday, is there any evidence

people are paying attention to warnings about going out? Yes,

particularly during the bad winds we had in December. We had reduced

levels of traffic than we would normally expect. There is evidence

that the general public are heeding the warnings, which we're grateful

for because it helps us tremendously. And also high sided

vehicles. The work with the Road Haulage Association paid dividends.

Many of their members kept their trucks off the road. There was talk,

wasn't there, last year, about the fact, I'm not sure if anything was

done about it, there was a plan to stop high-sided, not high-sided,

but to stop articulated trucks driving when the snow and ice got

really bad. Did anything ever come of that? That's a contingency plan

that's there, with the people I mention previously. If there was

very bad snow and ice on the motorway they would take it onto

the hard shoulder and then put back on the roads when they're clear.

Once the road is gritted, the vehicles help very much in helping

to make sure the road is passable. That was a con tinkcy plan for --

contingency plan for snow and ice. Isn't there an obvious case for

having a similar plan for high winds? Because, I mean, let's face

it, an articulated truck falling over on top of something else can

be more dangerous than the average truck jackknifing on the ice.

That's right and they're more prone to it because of the shape. We have

that plan because we have contacted the representative organisations as

well as issuing general advice to high sided vehicles. It can apply

to perm vehicles as well. There were a lot often the roads today. I

passed two that looks like dinky trucks, lying on their side on the

M9. They clearly should by definition shouldn't have been out

in what they were out in. That is true. What we're not wanting to do

is give the false impression this wasn't heeded. We know many trucks

were kept off the roads. There is not a legal enforcement to say you

cannot travel. The police can't issue that kind of advice. They can

take action if they think someone driving dangerously. The -- I

thought the snow and ice thing was going to be legally enforceable?

That was done with the agreement of the various conditions that they

agreed to do that and the police would enforce it. It's better to do

these things on a voluntary basis. Today we've had the police issuing

the warnings, particularly a level four warning, don't travel. We've

had the general vice to the public. We have in place agreements with

the RHA... About high winds? Yes. If that doesn't work and to some

extent, it clearly didn't work, could you take powers to just

legally enforce this? I don't think we'd want to do that. We have a

tradition of policing by consent. The police give the advice. The

more these things happen and the more we have the extreme weather

events, the more the message is getting through. We've seen an

improved response from the public and haulage sector. We will push

that process. That's, of things you have control of, it looks, if a

chimney is going to fall off and go through a roof, as happened today,

there's not much anyone can do to see that in advance. The huge great

trucks allow -- are liable to fall over is foreseeable. It's happened

in three times over recent weeks, we've had a good response from the

sector. The evidence is there for those who have come short today,

they've managed to get their trucks blown over in high winds. That will

be a lesson not lost on those driving. We're doing this through

the police, who imposed a 40mph speed limit today, reducing the

likelihood of those kind of incidents. That has worked

relatively well. We will continue time prove that each time we have

You'd presumably get advanced forecasts. I know it is difficult

to forecast for the far out, but what are they telling you about

what we can expect for the rest of this winter? The most recent

forecast I have seen says we expect a milder winter. It will be wetter

and windier. There is less of a likelihood of snow. So we are

likely to get what we were getting this time last year and maybe we

could have more high it winds? is right. This recent episode was

not notified to us until very late on. It can happen very quickly and

that might not show up on a three- month forecast. Thank you.

The Met Office's chief adviser to England and Northern Ireland is

Alex Hill. He is in Edinburgh now. There were particular reasons why

this storm was worse than anyone expected, wasn't there? I think

what happened was the bloke itself was deeper. -- the low. Secondly,

it started around 7 o'clock in the morning and there is something

called a sting jet which comes from the middle part of the Agnus fair,

well above the surface. It is quite narrow and dense and very strong. I

think it is what gave us that sudden increase. You can just about

make it out on the 8 o'clock satellite pictures. You can see a

very narrow clear spot in the cloud, which indicate what it is. Does it

look like the eye of a hurricane? It isn't. It is on the bottom left-

hand side of the Hook of cloud that you see an Distin jet comes down

there. Why does it happen? Why is it unusual? -- and the sting jet.

It is to do with a rapid descent and the pressure. It happens for a

short period, but it is huge in terms of the ghastliness.

ghastliness. The amber warning except the winds would hit about 80

mph. But there was a cabbie at. -- It is a question of developing and

as we get more information, we can be more precise about what the

maximum winds are likely to be. sting a jet was a particular actor

into day's events, but this is the third biggest storm what we have

had in a month. -- a particular factor. Why are we getting these

storms? Is it something to do with the jet stream? It is all about the

track of the depressions. They seem to be stuck in this pattern of

coming in from the West, South West and going up towards the north of

Scotland. Last year, we were on the other side of it. The low pressures

are being tracked by the jet streams, which are very strong at

the moment. We get all the rain and all the strong winds. A it possible

to say we are likely to get more of these? To get that extreme, you

have to be very close to them. What we are looking at, especially over

the next 10-15 days, we are looking at everything coming in from the

West, which is mild. Over the next couple of days, we will be thinking

about another hazard. There will be lots of rain and there could be

land slips. Again, the focus has to change slowly. We have to think

about flooding, especially on agricultural land which is very

sodden at the moment. Did trouble with landslides is a bit like the

chimney going through a roof. There are certain places that because it

has happened before, you can think about it, but it is a bit

unpredictable. You can estimate the likely would. You can put a risk

factor on it and people can be made aware of what could happen. It is

not something you can stop happening. Now, all the technology

you used to try and predict the weather, or are you pretty sure we

are not going to lapse into the same kind of weather we had

problems with last winter and that winter before? There is no sign of

it. That is not to say we will not get snow, but it will not be as