A second night of extreme winter weather has been reported in Edinburgh with many residents sharing footage of thundersnow and hail.
It comes following Met Office warnings of snow for much of the country and thundersnow being reported by many residents the night before.
Images show rising levels in the Water of Leith, with reports of lightning across much of the Capital, with transport impacted by the severe winter weather.
READ MORE: Sensors again fail to stop danger to motorists from falling ice on Queensferry Crossing
A number of services were also cancelled last night.
Scotrail announced this morning that due to heavy rain flooding at Livingston North disruption is expected. Edinburgh Trams also announced that due to flooding services are running between Edinburgh Park Station and York Place.
We continue to see flooding on some routes this morning, this is the result of some heavy rainfall since last night. Services running through Livingston North & Hartwood are currently affected.
— Network Rail Scotland (@NetworkRailSCOT) December 5, 2020
Arrangements for further pumps to be onsite and reduce water levels are underway. pic.twitter.com/RVsZdCNfXb
According to the Met Office, when thunderstorms form in wintry conditions they can sometimes give rise to heavy downpours of snow, and this, along with the usual thunder and lightning, is called 'thundersnow'.
Forecasters describe thundersnow as “unusual” as it can only occur during a few months of the year. Lightning appears brighter when thundersnow happens at night because light is reflected off the snowflakes.
Many took to social media to share footage of the extreme weather.
READ MORE: What is thundersnow? Unusual weather as heavy snow causes travel disruption
thunder in edinburgh right now. my window was vibrating. pic.twitter.com/PtHUx9mA7m
— laura (@daremetobreathe) December 5, 2020
Edinburgh weather mixing up the ways to wake us up in early hours - yesterday it was #thundersnow at 4.45am, today it's a 1.15am+ hail storm. I didn't capture the thunder & lightening but here's some angry hail knocking at the window... pic.twitter.com/z8g37qvwd8
— Katherine Smith (@ProfKatSmith) December 5, 2020
#Edinburgh #thundersnow pic.twitter.com/4hK2BzacDD
— kahraman koştaş (@kkostas) December 5, 2020
Crikey. #thundersnow in #porty #edinburgh again tonight. pic.twitter.com/3YH21K2o1m
— J L Hall 🇪🇺 #WearAMask ❤️ (@jlhallwriter) December 5, 2020
A SEPA flood warning was received at 6.30pm last night and the Council’s flood response plan was put in place with the gates on phases 1 and 2 of the Water of Leith flood defences being closed.
Additional staff were drafted in through the night to help with deploying sandbags to affected areas and to clear any debris being washed up on to gullies and culvert grilles.
Localised rain is forecast to continue over the weekend but the SEPA flood warning is no longer in force for Edinburgh.
Cllr Lesley Macinnes, Transport and Environment Convener, said: "Our roads and flood prevention teams have worked extremely hard throughout the night to help the city cope with the impact of last night’s severe weather.
"There has been some localised flooding and road closures and our flood response plan for the Water of Leith was put into place.
"Our roads teams will continue to work throughout the weekend to attend to any damage resulting from the flooding and clear away any debris. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the Council staff and partner agencies who worked through the night to minimise the impact of the heavy rain on the city."
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