Big freeze continues across northern Scotland as Met Office issue yellow weather warning for snow and ice

Sub-zero temperatures will continue across parts of northern Scotland as a yellow weather warning remains in place for snow and ice.

Forecasters have warned snow showers and icy surfaces will bring some travel disruption on Thursday, with road and rail users urged to check their journeys ahead of time.

The Met Office’s yellow weather warning will continue until 11.59pm on Thursday, covering Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray, the Western Isles, the Highlands, Orkney, Shetland and the Scottish Borders.

Wintry showers will affect northern Scotland while a few centimetres of snow are likely to accumulate at low levels with the potential for as much as 15 to 20cm over higher ground.

In addition, ice is likely to form on untreated surfaces, mainly where some of the showers fall as sleet close to coasts.

It comes as more than 100 engineers were deployed to Shetland as thousands of homes lost power for a third day.

Teams from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution have been working to restore power since Monday, as 70 additional engineers arrived on Wednesday morning in an effort to speed up the process.

On Monday afternoon, severe snowfall caused “extensive” damage to overhead cables, cutting off around 3,800 homes.

On Tuesday afternoon, as many as 2,800 homes in Voe, Whalsay, Brae, Yell and the West Mainland remained without access to electricity.

The outage was declared a “major incident” by the Scottish Government on Tuesday, warning locals it may be several days before the grid is back online.

SSEN has now confirmed that full restoration will most likely extend to the end of the week – particularly in West Mainland and parts of Voe.