Met Office issues yellow weather warning for ice across much of Scotland

Scotland is set to be swept with freezing temperatures and icy conditions, as a yellow weather warning has been issued for ice across much of the country.

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning, which comes into force from 6pm on Sunday and will run overnight until 10am on Monday morning.

The weather alert covers much of the North East, Highlands, Fife, Edinburgh and the Lothians, and through to the Scottish Borders.

The Met Office said the weather warning could see snow fall on higher ground, while icy stretches could lead to difficult driving conditions on Scotland’s roads.

The forecaster said: “Across northern Scotland, icy conditions are likely to be exacerbated by some wintry showers, with snow falling to low levels for a time before becoming mainly confined to higher ground late in the night.

“No more than 1-2 cm is likely at lower levels, with higher ground perhaps seeing up to 4 or 5cm from these wintry showers.”

Scots have been urged to take care when leaving home, as the risk of slips, trips and falls will be exacerbated by icy conditions.

Pedestrians are urged to stick to pavements along main roads which will be less likely to be slippy, while cyclists are urged to stick to main roads, which are more likely to have been treated by winter teams.

As of 11am on Sunday, four of Scotland’s gritters were on the network preparing roads.

Insight Philip Petrie STV weather presenter

Our first significant snowfall of the season is on the way. Yes we’ve already seen snow on the tops of the mountains, but on Tuesday we will see some fairly widespread snow and a lot further south than what we have seen so far.

Before that we’ll see things turning colder once again, with the risk of ice and wintry showers. Tonight we will see an area of rain and hill snow moving in as showers band together and become more organised. Across Orkney and Shetland it will be falling as rain, but for the mainland and inland areas it will be falling as snow, with 1-2cm above 300m and up to 5cm on ground above 400m. Once this clears south eastwards however we then tap into a cold northerly airflow and temperatures will drop away leading to a widespread frost forming and the risk of icy stretches where we have seen the wintry showers.

As this is happening overnight it means some of us may be waking up to tricky travel conditions tomorrow morning on any untreated surfaces. This is why the Met Office have issued a yellow weather warning for ice that runs until 10am on Monday. After this, Monday will generally be a fine, dry and bright day to come with sunny spells and largely dry conditions but it will still be feeling cold with temperatures struggling to climb after the cold start to the day.

Overnight Monday into Tuesday we see low pressure moving in from the south pushing in a large area of rain. As this bumps into the cold air we start to see a risk of snow across southern and central parts of Scotland. Falling as a mix of rain and sleet showers to low levels and the possibility of accumulations of 2-5cm on ground above 150m. Throughout the day the winds pick up strength and it will turn to rain again later on. There is the potential that we may see further warnings issued in association with the snow risk on Tuesday.