South East Scotland escaped the worst of the winter weather in 2025/26, however BEAR Scotland’s winter team still worked hard throughout the season to keep the South East trunk road network safe.

Similar to last season, there were numerous days where the forecast prompted significant preparations, but the actual conditions were less severe. Resources were deployed on 36 occasions in response to forecasted snow, with only two of those days seeing snow accumulation outside of the highest elevations of the Border routes. Even on those days, snowfall was light and short-lived.

Over the winter period up to the end of March 2026, a total of 2,635 treatments were carried out, using 14,400 tonnes of salt and 353 tonnes of de-icer.

The A702 at Abington saw the coldest temperature recorded across the South East network, hitting a low of -10.9 ℃.

Mike Smart, BEAR Scotland’s Severe Weather Manager for the South East, said: “This winter was relatively mild, however I’m grateful to our teams for working day and night throughout the season to monitor conditions, treat the roads and respond to incidents. We remain ready to respond to severe weather whenever that may come.”

As well as the challenge of freezing temperatures, the South East network experienced four named storms in the year since April 2025. The most significant was Storm Floris, which took place towards the end of August 2025 with an amber weather warning for wind closing the A1 and Forth Road Bridge for a time, and some disruption due to fallen trees and debris.

Keeping the network safe

To ensure a safe network throughout the winter period, we monitor the road surface temperature (RST) daily to identify what procedures need to take place and where. When the RST is forecast to fall below 3℃, the network team monitors temperatures 24/7. Routes are routinely patrolled when RSTs reach 2 ℃ or and the road surface is wet or there are hazards, The carriageways are treated when the RSTs fall below 1 ℃.