we're bringing you the latest on storm bert which is currently sweeping across scotland and parts of northern and central england. weather warnings for heavy rain and high winds are also in place across the uk, including most of northern ireland, wales and cornwall this was the scene at barnard castle in county durham this morning, where you can see that the a66 it is closed in both directions between the a67 near bowes and the a685 near brough due to heavy snow in the area. newcastle airport, flights there are disrupted because they are trying to clear the snow from the runway. also in scotland, _ snow from the runway. also in scotland. a — snow from the runway. also in scotland, a crass _ snow from the runway. also in scotland, a crass has - snow from the runway. also in

scotland, a crass has closed . scotland, a crass has closed the m74 scotland, a crass has closed the m71; at junction 1a scotland, a crass has closed the m71; atjunction14 in south lanarkshire where the conditions there are said to be very poor. the also the m48 severnbridge is closed in both directions due to current wind speeds. storm bert could bring up to 30cm of snow today as wintry conditions sweep across the uk with a "hazardous mix of wet, windy and wintry conditions" . let's show you where the alert�*s are in force. first the two amber ones. they are for heavy snow and ice across scotland and covering parts of yorkshire and the north east of england. that is in force until 5pm this afternoon. and yellow wind, rain and snow warnings cover much of the rest of the uk.

if you are not in an area that has snow warnings, you could see high winds and rain. here you can see the path that storm bert has taken overnight and into today. you can see the band of rain and snow that has hit across the top. let's show you the live pictures. let us go first to the western half of the country which is where the winds are causing the issue. let's go to lyme regis in dorset, this is down there on the coast. you can see all of the coast. you can see all of the boats are there in the harbour, they are not braving those conditions. you can see just about through that haze that the winds are causing those waves to come in and we have seen a few people walking around there, but you can see

all of those small vessels that often would be out are not, but a lot of people believing going down onto the beach there, the camera is around to give us an idea of what is going on there in lyme regis. those boats all covered up. let us go further down into the south—west, and this is cornwall. again, you can see the wind is causing those waves and the conditions there. we already know that there. we already know that there have been winds up to 67 miles per hour in the isles of scilly and also parts of devon. the wind is the issue, but as i mentioned, the amber warnings for snow are in the north—east of scotland. let's take you to scotland, this is the live picture from edinburgh at the moment and you can see there are some children out with their home—made sleighs, sledges, going down in edinburgh in those snowy conditions. of course, it is fun for children to see the

snow, but not good for everyone else. as i say, scotland central and northern england have those warnings for snow, rain and wind. talking of scotland, we are just hearing that the queensferry crossing which goes across the firth of forth, that is currently closed and it is closed because of the risk of falling ice. this crossing is the one that carries the m19 motorway across the firth of forth and the road maintenance teams there took the decision at around 10:20am, just over an hour ago, because they saw that the bridges stay cables had ice dropping from it. what you don't want is ice dropping from that height onto vehicles on the queensferry crossing. there is a diversion route and that takes the traffic over the neighbouring forth road bridge, so that is

in scotland. just going to mention northern ireland because there has of course been storm bert across the republic of ireland quite badly, we are hearing that rail lines are shut in northern ireland. the lines between belfast, antrim, and portadown are closed due to flooding. that is the public transport operator telling us that. also a great that went out to try and keep the roads open got stranded in the coleraine mountain road. —— gritter. this is edinburgh, it is quite bad there, and the north—east of england is the other place i had mentioned where the roads around barnard castle are closed. a little earlier, before it got too bad our closed. a little earlier, before it got too bad our reporter was there and sent us reporter was there and sent us this update. we this update. we reporter was there and sent us this update-— reporter was there and sent us this update-— this update. we were told that we could be — this update. we were told that we could be — this update. we were told that we could be expecting - this update. we were told that we could be expecting up - this update. we were told that we could be expecting up to i this update. we were told that we could be expecting - this update. we were told that we could be expecting up - this update. we were told that we could be expecting up to i this update. we were told that | we could be expecting up to 30 centimetres of snow in this this update. we were told that | we could be expecting up to 30 centimetres of snow in this part of the world as part of part of the world as part of the amber weather warning. it the amber weather warning. it

has not quite got that extreme, has not quite got that extreme, i have earlier, i have done a very unscientific test and it seems to be about ten centimetres of snow in the centre of the road, but we are told about that disruption being caused notjust here but other parts of northern england and scotland as well. we have heard about harrogate, places such as that who have currently got no bus services because of how slippery the bus services out there. we have also told there are issues on the rails, west coast telling us that anyone travelling north of preston should not do so this morning because of the issues, and also issues on the trans pennine express route north of carlisle, that is because of these issues. north yorkshire police earlier telling us they are dealing with eight crashes due to the snow

are dealing with eight crashes due to the being stranded, off, drivers being stranded, but also the possibility of power cuts in areas. we are hearing that is happening as well, there are teams out and about on the ground trying to restore some kind of normality. but we are seeing those pictures from other parts of the country, other parts this region, affected by this amber whether one ensuring the disruption that has been caused. what happens this afternoon as the temperatures warm up in these blizzard —like conditions stop, hopefully it will enable people to get people out and about and conditions will improve quite considerably. aha, conditions will improve quite considerably.— conditions will improve quite considerably. a reminder that this amber— considerably. a reminder that this amber alert _ considerably. a reminder that this amber alert for _ considerably. a reminder that this amber alert for the - this amber alert for the north—east of england and also yorkshire and scotland is in force until five o'clock this evening. an hour ago, we spoke to the independent travel expert who was on a train. he joins us again now. simon, you made it to wherever you're going. where are you, and give us an update on the conditions?

let's start off with the trains, because that is where you aren't and where you have got to on the trains.— got to on the trains. yes, i have made _ got to on the trains. yes, i have made it _ got to on the trains. yes, i have made it all _ got to on the trains. yes, i have made it all the - got to on the trains. yes, i have made it all the way . got to on the trains. yes, i | have made it all the way to middlesbrough, another day in paradise. yes, we have got now actually a lot of problems which are almost second level problems due to the high winds. let me run through a couple of them. in kent, the line from ramsgate across to canterbury and then onto london, that is blocked because of a fallen tree. network rail are on their way to move the tree, but at the moment, there is nothing moving to the east of that tree. birmingham new street, absolutely the busiest railway station outside london, problems there because of an object caught in the overhead wires, prudent assume a belief because of the high winds. —— presumably because of the high winds. we might get those

trampolines blowing from back gardens onto railway lines which also seems to occur at times of high winds. elsewhere, you mentioned is anti—west coast saying no travel north of preston if you can avoid it —— avanti west preston if you can avoid it —— ava nti west coast. south—western railways do not go west of basingstoke and then a whole pattern of cancellations across scotland, including the line through glasgow queen street to 0ban which is only going as far as tree and lariat. —— mike crianlarich. further north the main link to the outer hebrides to stornoway, that is not sailing. anywhere up and down the irish sea you can expect disruption and a number of

cancellations from belfast across to cairnryan, also dublin to holyhead. actually, the english channel, there is no end to these cancellations. it dfds says is afternoon sailing from new haven says it will not be going.— will not be going. while you have been _ will not be going. while you have been speaking, - will not be going. while you have been speaking, we - will not be going. while you i have been speaking, we have seen the pictures from lyme regis where you can definitely see why some ferries will not be operating in some parts of the country. we have done trains, ferries, what about the airport? trains, ferries, what about the airort? ~ ., trains, ferries, what about the airort? . ., ., trains, ferries, what about the airort? ~ ., ., ., ., airport? wright, an hour ago ou airport? wright, an hour ago you were _ airport? wright, an hour ago you werejust— airport? wright, an hour ago you were just mentioning - airport? wright, an hour ago. you were just mentioning that newcastle airport had been closed. i am glad to say in the past ten minutes the inbound emirates flight from dubai successfully landed and that means the airport is now open again, there will be 300 happy people on that flight and indeed 300 very happy people waiting to fly from newcastle to dubai, which at the moment is slightly warmer and drier, i understand. but we have seen

diversions, flights from belfast this morning went back to belfast. a couple of flights from amsterdam ended up in edinburgh and we have had cancellations from heathrow and from amsterdam on klm. actually, heathrow is when we are seeing very significant number of cancellations, almost 50. short—hauland number of cancellations, almost 50. short—haul and domestic european flights on british airways from heathrow to places such as glasgow, manchester and so on across to nice at various other points, people will be rebooked on alternative flights. aer lingus cancelling a couple of flights and lufthansa to frankfurt. luftha nsa to fra nkfu rt. fra nkly, lufthansa to frankfurt. frankly, if you are merely being delayed by an hour or so, i havejust being delayed by an hour or so, i have just checked the arrivals at heathrow, that

seems to be a fairly typical length of delay, you are probably