Fears English villages might be reduce off by Storm Goretti’s heavy snow tonight after Scottish cities spent days in isolation: Live updates

The Scottish village of Insch was buried under 1ft of snow

An amber warning for snow comes into force from 8pm covering parts of Wales, the Midlands and South Yorkshire – meaning these areas will be among the worst hit in the country.

The Met Office said rain associated with the storm in these areas will turn to ‘heavy snow’, which may lead to some rural communities being cut off.

Around 10-15cm of snow is likely across the warning area, with up to 30cm on higher ground in Wales and the Peak District.

A yellow warning for snow is also in place from 5pm until noon on Friday for a wider part of England, from Northumberland to Wiltshire.

In Scotland, Aberdeenshire Council declared a major incident on Wednesday after the village of Insch in Aberdeenshire was cut off after getting nearly a foot of snow.

Locals there had described it as ‘one of the worst winters in 25 years’.

People have been ordered to leave their clifftop homes in Hemsby

Clifftop residents in Norfolk have been ordered to leave their homes amid fears their properties are at risk of imminent collapse into the sea as Goretti sweeps in.

People living in Hemsby, Norfolk, say 30ft (10m) of coast has already eroded away in the past week ahead of the storm’s arrival.

Fourteen properties have now been evacuated by Great Yarmouth Borough Council with owners told their properties need to be demolished.

A council spokesperson told the Eastern Daily Press:

We have been liaising closely with people affected by erosion in Hemsby for some time, but the recent spate of storms and forecast of further damage from Storm Goretti means some properties are now in an even more precarious position.

It is extremely traumatic for those affected, but coastal experts say there is a real risk of collapse. Making sure residents and the public are safe is of paramount importance so we are working closely with owners to explain the risks, offer support and advice where necessary and detail the options available to people at this very difficult time.

Climbers headed out on the Peak District this morning hours before the expected arrival of heavy snow.

Two men were pictured heading out from Featherbed Moss as Storm Goretti approaches.

It comes as amber warnings come into force across the Peak District from 8pm, three hours after the first snowfall is expected.

Forecasters say some higher ground areas could receive as much as 1ft of snow.

Planes have been grounded at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport

Britons flying to Amsterdam and Paris continue to face disruption due to the weather today, after about 1,000 flights to and from both cities were axed yesterday.

KLM flights from Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Leeds Bradford, Manchester and London Heathrow were impacted again today, as well as Air France planes from Heathrow and Birmingham.

Meanwhile both Channel Islands airports said they would close early at 6pm today due to the storm, which has impacted flights between London Gatwick or Heathrow to Jersey and Guernsey.

A ‘good Samaritan’ farmer came to the rescue of a couple who were snowed in at their home in Aberdeenshire, clearing their driveway in 20 minutes.

Graeme and Melanie Stewart, both 63, moved to Alford in Aberdeenshire around 18 months ago.

They were starting to clear snow by shovel yesterday, a job they expected to take three hours, when a neighbouring farmer who they had never met passed by and offered to help with his tractor.

Dr Stewart said the farming community had saved the day and the roads nearby would have been impassable if not for their collective efforts.

He said:

The farmers in this community are going out at all hours to clear the roads. I’d never seen the fella before, he was literally passing the end of the driveway. He was a complete stranger, a good Samaritan. He leapt out and asked us if we wanted a hand.

Snow has fallen every day so far this year in Aberdeenshire, with rural communities becoming cut off by what locals have billed ‘one of the worst winters in 25 years’.

Among the affected villages is Insch, which has seen 30cm (1ft) of snow – leaving delivery lorries struggling to make it through despite a snow plough clearing the entrance to a Co-op which now has piles of snow reaching almost to the roof.

Snow drifts have been 50cm (1ft 8in) deep in Insch, with residents comparing the situation at the local supermarket to the food shortages during the pandemic.

In Insch, Doug Griffin said the weather conditions – which have caused the village to be cut off – are ‘remarkable’ and ‘exceptional’.

The 58-year-old, who has lived in the village for 25 years, said that while residents are used to snow, the drifts yesterday were 30cm (1ft) deep, and had been higher on Tuesday before they thawed.

He said:

It has been a long time since we have had anything like this, it is very different here. We moved up to the north-east 25 years ago, the first winter was quite bad, 2010 was quite bad, but this might be the worst.

It is slightly wetter today, and I think some of the snow in Aberdeen has gone. At my front door, the depth is about 30cm. We are snowed in, we have not been able to get out of the village for a few days.

The NHS is is reporting a rise in people suffering injuries from slips and falls due to the icy conditions gripping the nation.

One trust in Scotland, NHS Lanarkshire, has urged the public to take extra care during the winter months after seeing a noticeable increase in patients visiting A&E departments with orthopaedic injuries.

Arwel Williams, Director of Acute Services at NHS Lanarkshire, said:

With the particularly cold and icy weather we are experiencing just now, our A&E departments are under significant pressure, and we are seeing a significant increase in people attending with orthopaedic injuries caused by slips and falls on ice.

Our staff are working extremely hard across our hospitals to care for everyone who needs us during this challenging winter period. Many of these injuries are, however, preventable. By taking extra care when outdoors, wearing appropriate footwear, and avoiding unnecessary risks in icy conditions, people can help protect themselves from harm.

Here’s a reminder how the arctic-like conditions have caused hazards across the country:

Arctic storm chaos in Europe has already left thousands of passengers camping out at a frozen Dutch airport while snow-hit France has closed motorways and cancelled flights.

Intense snowfall and icy weather has left six people dead as Goretti wreaks havoc across the continent.

Three people died and 15 were injured in road accidents on Tuesday in the Landes region of south-west France, while two more were killed in weather-related incidents in the Paris area.

A driver died in hospital Monday night after losing control and veering into the Marne River, while a second died after a collision with a heavy goods vehicle in the east of Paris.

More than a thousand passengers spent the night at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, the main international airport of the Netherlands, marking the sixth day of disruption in ‍a row ‍at one of Europe’s busiest hubs.

Wind speeds of up to 100mph could strike exposed regions from this evening with meteorologists warning of ‘violent gusts that may persist for two to three hours’, especially in South West England, as the weather brings a ‘danger to life’ to the UK.

Alongside heavy snow, forecasters have predicted destructive winds will blow across the country later on.

An amber wind, originally set to come into force across parts of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly at 5pm, has been brought forward by an hour with peak gusts of ’80 to 100mph winds’ expected later today

There is a further yellow warning for wind for much of South West England from 3pm today until 6am tomorrow, which was later extended along the south coast to Kent.

We are just hours away from the arrival of Storm Goretti, the UK’s first named storm of 2026.

Here’s our video explaining why Goretti is a ‘weather bomb’ and how that affects people across Britain.

Amber cold weather health alerts have been issued by the UK Health Security Agency until Sunday, meaning severe impacts across health and social care services are expected.

Officials expect a rise in deaths, particularly among those aged 65 and over or with health conditions, with impacts also possible on younger age groups.

Temperatures fell to -8.3C in the Highlands early this morning, while Edinburgh dropped to -6C.

The low in England was -5C at Topcliffe in North Yorkshire.

Insch in Aberdeenshire was cut off after getting nearly a foot of snow

In Scotland, many schools across the Highlands remain closed for a fourth day, as efforts to recover from days of heavy snow and sub-zero temperatures continue.

This includes more than 150 schools in Aberdeenshire, dozens of schools in the Highlands, and a number of schools in Moray and Orkney.

This comes after 440 schools were closed yesterday across a number of councils in Scotland, amounting to 18 per cent of the entire school estate, with remote learning being provided in many cases.

Ministers said that while wintry weather is continuing, the severe weather affecting the north of Scotland in particular has abated, allowing the recovery effort to begin.

Aberdeenshire Council declared a major incident on Tuesday, warning of a ‘good chance’ some rural communities will be cut off, as well as the possibility of power cuts.

The village of Insch in Aberdeenshire was cut off after getting nearly a foot of snow, with locals describing it as ‘one of the worst winters in 25 years’.