Snow and ice are set to cause widespread disruption as temperatures could plummet to -10C in some areas across Scotland amid fresh weather warnings.
The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for snow and ice covering the entirety of the country on Tuesday lasting from 12am until 11.59pm.
Forecasters added that there is a chance the warning could be escalated to an amber level within the next 24 hours.
Snow showers moving across northern and western Scotland on Tuesday morning could see 2-5cm of snow possible in a few hours in some places.
Some places could see up to 20cm of snow particularly across the northern half of Scotland and over higher ground elsewhere.
The Met Office warned that travel disruption, including road closures, was likely and power cuts may occur in some places.
Frequent snow showers are set to continue into Wednesday and Thursday with a yellow warning for snow set to be in place covering parts of the west and northern Scotland.
Lasting from 12am on Wednesday until 11.59pm on Thursday, wintry weather will continue to sweep across Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray, the Highlands, Western Isles, Dumfries and Galloway, Argyll and Bute, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and both the Orkney and Shetland Islands.
Snow showers are likely to continue during Wednesday night and well into Thursday.
Whilst accumulations will vary due to the nature of showers, 2-5 cm of snow is expected in many places.
Where showers become more organised, there is a chance some low-lying areas could see 10cm in a few hours and across northern Scotland over 20cm of snow could build up in a few locations.
It comes after snow was forecast to hit parts of northern Scotland on Sunday as cold air from the Arctic brings chilly temperatures.
A yellow weather warning was previously issued for snow and ice in place all day on Sunday and into Monday, covering areas including the Highlands and the Orkney and Shetland Islands.
Insight Philip Petrie STV weather presenter
Further snow and ice yellow weather warnings have been issued today by the Met Office, with a chance these could be escalated to amber in the next 24 hours.
Tuesday’s snow and ice warning covers the whole of Scotland, and last the entire day. At the moment the models are signalling a frontal system to arrive from the west bringing with it a high risk of widespread snow across central and southern parts of Scotland. This would give 2-5cm of snow around Glasgow and the central belt, with up to 10cm likely on the southern uplands.
With the arrival of this, the wind direction changes more to a westerly and milder air will be introduced, so increasingly the snow will be turning to rain in the very far west – but with this rain the chance of icy patches form increases. Along with this wider band of snow, we will continue to see frequent heavy snow showers in the north with further accumulations for the north west Highlands, Caithness and Sutherland, Moray and Aberdeenshire.
We’re likely to see a lot of travel disruption, with road closures and ploughs and gritters not keeping up with the non-stop snow showers over the next few days.
These conditions obviously aren’t exceptional for winter, but it will be our coldest and longest spell of cold weather that we have seen this winter so far.
By next weekend there is a sign that milder moves in again, but with that mild air there will be an initial further snow downpour, but at the moment there is still a lot of uncertainty, but we will be keeping a close eye.
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