Hundreds of schools remain shut as snow and ice warning continues to grip Scotland

Hundreds of schools are to remain shut for a fourth day in northern Scotland as a warning for snow and ice continues to grip the country.

A yellow weather warning for ice and snow was in force across the northern half of the country until midnight on Wednesday.

Yet the Met Office issued a fresh yellow warning from 10pm on Wednesday until noon on Thursday, following amber warnings which caused major disruption in the north.

The new yellow alert covers the whole country and is expected to bring 1-2 cm of fresh snow in places, with 2-5cm of fresh snow accumulations on ground above 200 metres, mainly in the west.

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Heavy snow delayed the return to school after the winter break for thousands of pupils in northern Scotland who were due to go back on Monday.

In Aberdeenshire, 150 schools remain closed on Thursday, with bus services also cancelled.

Dozens of schools in the Highlands, and a number of schools in Moray and Orkney will also be shut for a fourth day.

Aberdeenshire Council declared a major incident on Tuesday, warning of a “good chance” some rural communities will be cut off, as well as the possibility of power cuts.

The village of Insch in Aberdeenshire was cut off after getting nearly a foot of snow, with locals describing it as “one of the worst winters in 25 years”.

Resident Doug Griffin said: “There has been nothing like this since 2010, it is quite remarkable. It makes it really difficult to do anything.

“There were people getting frustrated last night because the shop hadn’t stocked up.

“We are not used to it. We do get snow, but it is nothing like this, it is exceptional.”

The snowy conditions disrupted road, air and rail travel across the country, with some train lines shut after snow up to 1.2m deep drifted onto the tracks in places.

The A9 was closed earlier this week for a number of hours to recover a Royal Mail lorry which crashed off the road.

Network Rail Scotland said the vast majority of Scotland’s railway had reopened on Wednesday, though there were still “challenges due to deep snow” on the Inverness to Wick/Thurso line, with teams set to work through Wednesday night to clear it.

A statement on Thursday morning read: “Our snowplough and its crew will be departing Inverness imminently for Brora, to begin ploughing the route to Wick/Thurso.

“We expect more challenging conditions, with snow up to platform level in the Forsinard area, for example.2

On the roads, Highland Council said there are overnight road closures due to snow on the A836 Lairg to Tongue road and the A897 Kinbrace to Halladale road, while Traffic Scotland said snow gates are shut on the A939 Cock Bridge to Tomintoul and the B974 Bridge of Dye.

Police Scotland urged people to follow travel advice.

Assistant Chief Constable Alan Waddell said: “Local resilience partnerships are continuing to meet to co-ordinate and deliver the response to disruption experienced by communities in the north and north-east of Scotland following heavy snowfall over the weekend.

“We have been working closely with resilience partners across local authorities, other emergency service partners, transport partners, NHS and health and social care partnerships, and other local organisations to support communities affected by adverse weather and keep public services open where possible.

“Some services may be impacted by adverse weather and I would encourage the public to check on neighbours or relatives, if they are able to do so safely.”