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Fresh snow and ice warnings in place for Scotland

BBC Weather Watchers Tyke A car and street and trees covered in snow at night in daylightBBC Weather Watchers Tyke
Heavy snow fell in the village of Auchleven in Aberdeenshire

Fresh yellow weather warnings for snow and ice across Scotland have been issued by the Met Office.

The new alerts take effect from 16:00 on Monday until noon on Tuesday, and follow warnings that covered Sunday night into Monday morning.

More than 70 schools in Aberdeenshire and several in Moray and the Highlands had to close on Monday due to snowfall and poor road conditions. Most are expected to reopen on Tuesday, although a total of 10 will remain closed in Aberdeenshire and three in Moray.

Temperatures at Loch Glascarnoch in the northwest Highlands plummeted to as low as -13C overnight on the coldest night of the winter so far in the UK.

Forecasters urged anyone leaving their homes over the next 48 hours to exercise caution when walking outside due to ice on paths and pavements.

The Met Office stated further snow showers were expected to continue into Tuesday, including around 5cm to 10cm above 200 metres across the north of the country.

Rain and sleet are also expected, leading to a risk of ice.

The 16:00 yellow warning will cover Grampian, the Highlands, Orkney & Shetland, Dumfries & Galloway and across Ayrshire.

PA Media A walker goes across snowy grounds in Perthshire. They are using a walker to help themselves move around. Several trees are in the background. PA Media
Gleneagles in Perthshire was among the areas blanketed by snow

Close to 10cm of snow fell in areas of Aberdeenshire, Moray, north Angus, north Perthshire and Strathspey and Badenoch above 200 metres.

Aberdeenshire Council said the decision to close schools was not "taken lightly" and was made due to a "range of factors", such as the ability of staff to travel and school transportation.

A spokesperson added: "Our dedicated roads team continues to monitor and treat numerous routes – we've had more than 250 staff deployed and more than 200 items of plant operating across the region.

"We're expecting to see more wintry showers and further significant snow accumulations today and tomorrow morning."

Treatment of priority routes will take place from 05:30 on Tuesday morning.

Bear Scotland, which maintains trunk roads and bridges, said conditions on the A9 south of Inverness were "difficult".

It urged drivers to take care and said gritters had been deployed.

A man, seen from behind, with a snow shovel and standing in his driveway as he shovels snow. His house can be seen in the distance behind him, with a green door.
Aboyne resident Francis Harper clears his driveway in the Aberdeenshire village.

Douglas Cairns, of Transport Scotland, said that the travel network had "coped relatively well" with the weather.

He added: "We've dealt with challenges faced along the way. The Highlands and islands area has been more prone to the weather – that's probably normal for this time of year."

Mr Cairns said that on Tuesday travellers should allow extra time for journeys and drive to the road conditions.

ScotRail had been forced to cancel several services and close the Far North Line between Inverness and Dingwall last week due to landslips and flooding.

David Ross, ScotRail's communications director, told BBC Scotland News the operator was "not taking any chances" as commuters returned to work.

He said: "Network Rail will have colleagues out at locations around the country to de-ice the railway and they have also got special winter trains that can check lines and clear them of snow if required.

"The network is coping very well. We did have some challenges in the north of the country and those have been resolved."

A row of gritting trucks in Glasgow. All of the trucks are orange in colour and have ploughs on the front.
Gritting trucks are ready to be deployed across the country as commuters prepare for a return to work

In Glasgow, Amey, which operates the gritting machines, said about 24,000 tonnes of road salt and 231,000 litres of brine had been stocked up at their Polmadie depot to tackle the freeze.

Amey gritter driver George McLellan said: "We've got guys on call 24 hours so when you get the call, it's all hands to the pump, into the yard, get your grit loaded up and go out and patrol and grit the roads.

"The challenges in this job are mainly the traffic during busy periods – to try and get the grit down.

"I think the worst is yet to come."

A dark-coloured car drives along a road cleared of snow. A red reduce speed sign is on the opposite side of the road. The sides of the road are covered with snow and black and white bollards.
Forecasters have warned driving conditions could be "challenging" in some areas

Network Rail Scotland, which maintains and repairs the tracks, said it had made preparations to deal with the weather.

It said: "Locomotives with ploughs are standing by at strategic locations, ready to clear tracks if it's needed.

"Snow showers remain likely across parts of the West Highland Line and lines out of Inverness for the first half of the week."

Ferry operator CalMac warned a number of services could face disruption, with all sailings on the Mallaig to Oban route cancelled for the day.