Road closures and delays as snow sweeps in across Scotland

The Queensferry Crossing has reopened following a risk of falling ice.

The bridge, which carries the M90 motorway across the Firth of Forth, was closed to traffic in both directions during the early hours of Thursday morning as snow swept in across Scotland.

Motorists faced a 36-mile diversion via the A985 Kincardine Bridge.

Bear Scotland warned drivers that the Forth Road Bridge “should not be used as a diversion”.

The road was eventually reopened shortly after 10am.

Ochil Hills: Weather warnings have been put in place across Scotland. STV News

The Met Office has issued a number of weather warnings across the country.

An amber alert was put in place across south and south-east Scotland on Wednesday evening, with around 30cm of snow expected to fall overnight.

The warning, which remained in place until 8am on Thursday, covered areas such as South Lanarkshire, Lanark, Jedburgh, Melrose, Lauder, Peebles and Penicuik in Midlothian.

Blizzard-like conditions are expected to develop on Thursday in Moray and the east Highlands and could affect roads on higher ground.

Highlands: The A9 between Slochd and Tomatin is currently blocked. Email

The A9 between Slochd and Tomatin in the Highlands is currently blocked by snow and a number of jackknifed lorries.

Snowploughs have been hampered by the trucks blocking the route, leading to traffic tailbacks.

Elsewhere in the Highlands, the Bealach na Ba route in Wester Ross is closed due to heavy snow.

Lower-level routes have been affected by ice, snow and hail showers.

Snow is also expected to fall across most of central Scotland, western Fife and Stirlingshire.

A yellow warning for rain has also been put in place in the north-east of the country.

The alert, which runs through Thursday until 12pm on Friday, affects Peterhead, Fraserburgh and Banff in Aberdeenshire as well as Wick and Thurso in the Highlands and the Orkney Islands.

Winds will also be an issue for the north and north-east as Storm Christoph heads into the North Sea on Thursday.

The north of Lewis, north Highland coast, Orkney, Shetland and coastal Moray and Aberdeenshire could see gusts of up to 50mph.

Traffic Scotland’s Gritter Tracker page provides live tracking of gritters on the trunk road network.

William Wall-Ice, Sprinkles and Megameltasaurus are currently working their way across the north-east of the country.

To view all the gritters out on Scotland’s roads, click here.