A1 closure for lorries as Edinburgh and Lothians face yellow wind warning with possible 70mph gusts and heavy rain

The Met Office has issued a yellow 'be aware' warning for wind which begins at 3am on Saturday.
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The A1 will be closed between the outskirts of Edinburgh and the English border on Saturday due to high winds - with 70mph gusts possible in some areas.

Met Office meteorologist Tom Morgan said south-westerly crosswinds will impact high-sided vehicles on the A1, particularly on more south-to-north facing stretches of the road.

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The A1 will be closed to high-sided vehicles from midnight on Saturday between the A720 at Old Craighall and the English border (Traffic Scotland pic). The other picture also shows an overturned lorry between Thistly Cross and the Spot Roundabout.The A1 will be closed to high-sided vehicles from midnight on Saturday between the A720 at Old Craighall and the English border (Traffic Scotland pic). The other picture also shows an overturned lorry between Thistly Cross and the Spot Roundabout.
The A1 will be closed to high-sided vehicles from midnight on Saturday between the A720 at Old Craighall and the English border (Traffic Scotland pic). The other picture also shows an overturned lorry between Thistly Cross and the Spot Roundabout.
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A yellow "be aware" warning is in place between 3am and 6pm tomorrow.

A1 Closure

Traffic Scotland tweeted on Friday afternoon that, from midnight to midday on Saturday, the A1 will be closed to high-sided vehicles between the English border and Old Craighall on the outskirts of Edinburgh.

Speaking to the Evening News, Mr Morgan said: "We could see some transport disruption and issues for some high-sided vehicles and possibly some short term power interruptions.

"We have is a big area of low pressure to the northwest of Scotland and strong south-westerly winds of 50-60mph are expected across Edinburgh and the Lothian area, so we could see restrictions on the Forth Road Bridge.

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"The Pentland Hills can help accelerate winds too and the A1 will be affected, with 70mph gusts expected in some isolated areas. The wind is southwesterly so there will be quite a crosswind in parts."

"In the city itself it's likely just blow over dustbins but probably won't have any major impacts. It will start to ease down by the end of the morning and it will just be more of a typical windy afternoon."

He said that gusts will more likely to peak at 55mph in Edinburgh city centre itself and that heavy rain will make for an "unpleasant" day, with the worst of the weather arriving in the early morning.

Heavy Rain

A yellow 'be aware' warning for rain is also in place from 4am on Saturday with some parts of the borders, such as Peebles and Kelso, likely to experience some minor impacts.

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More than 2ins of rain is expected to fall across the south-east of Scotland quite widely, with up to 4ins expected in south-western parts of the country.

Mr Morgan says temperatures in Edinburgh on Saturday will be milder than usual for this time of year, with highs of 12c possible. This is up to 4c above the January average.