Fresh snow and ice alert as temperatures plunge below -12C

Scotland will be hit with wintry blasts bringing snow and ice across much of the country as freezing weather causes disruption to travel.

The mercury plunged to minus 12.5C in some places overnight with warnings that roads, railways and air travel could be affected.

The current forecast states that there could be up to 10cm of snow on higher grounds.

The Met Office yellow weather warning for snow and ice in eastern Scotland comes into force from 5pm on Sunday to 12pm on Monday.

The weather service said wintry showers, with snow on hills, falling onto frozen surfaces may lead to some disruption to transport and infrastructure.

Coldest spots in Scotland overnight

• Altnaharra: -12.5c
• Kinbrace: -11.7c
• Balmoral: -11.4c
• Loch Glascarnoch: -10.6c

⚠️ Yellow weather warning issued ⚠️

Snow and ice across parts of Scotland

Sunday 1700 – Monday 1200

Latest info 👉 https://t.co/QwDLMfRBfs

Stay #WeatherAware⚠️ pic.twitter.com/ukwffOBEv0

— Met Office (@metoffice) December 3, 2023

The police have warned road users to take care after being called to multiple crashes due to “driver error”.

In its warning the Met Office said “occasional wintry showers will affect eastern Scotland this evening and through Monday morning, the showers falling onto frozen surfaces giving the risk of ice.

As we head into the new working week we will see our wind directions change to an easterly, giving us an increased amount of wintry showers coming in over eastern parts of the country.

The snow and ice warning issued on Sunday by the Met Office is a low impact warning, as we will see snow showers down to lower levels initially around Aberdeenshire, Fife, Angus and the Northern Isles but throughout the night the snow will increasingly turn to rain as the freezing level rises.

By Monday morning and throughout the day the snowfall accumulations will be restricted to the higher ground of a small part of inland Aberdeenshire, where we could see 5-10cm on the hills, and 1-2cm at lower levels.

Another risk will be the ice, as rain falls on already frozen ground, so there is a chance of some slippery surfaces first thing Monday morning.

Tuesday looks set to be a largely dry day as we are in between pressure systems, the winds will drop out and there will be a fair amount of sunshine around. It stays cold as we head into Wednesday, however overnight Wednesday and into Thursday we could be seeing the arrival of some disruptive snow.

A frontal system will arrive from the Atlantic bringing cloud, rain and milder conditions, but as that mild air hits the cold air we are likely to see a spell of snow during the night, even down to lower levels, before it increasingly turns milder and wetter throughout the day Thursday.

At the moment there is still a lot of uncertainty about how quickly this next system will arrive, so we’ll be keeping an eye on things over the next few days.

Getty Images

It comes after much of the west of Scotland woke to a blanket of snow and ice on Saturday morning.

Glasgow Airport suspended all flights as teams worked through the night to clear the runway. Planes were able to resume taking off again shortly before 10.30am.

A vehicle collided with a British Airways plane at Aberdeen Airport, leaving passengers delayed.

BA flight 1305 to London Heathrow was supposed to depart at 8.55am on Saturday but investigations are under way after the incident.

A host of Scottish Professional Football League matches were called off due to the weather.

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