Schools closed in Aberdeenshire for fifth day as fresh snow and ice warning in force

Schools have been closed in Aberdeenshire for the fifth day in a row as a snow and ice alert comes into force.

More than 150 schools in Aberdeenshire and a number of schools in Moray and the Highlands will remain shut on Friday, with remote learning being provided in many cases.

The disruption comes as the Met Office issues a new yellow warning for snow and ice, in place until midday on Friday, following several days of heavy snowfall. Further travel disruption is expected as severe conditions persist.

The warning predicts wintry showers, leading to patchy ice and fresh accumulations of snow. It covers much of the country, stretching south from the Highlands to the Borders, including central areas as far west as Glasgow.

The Met Office forecast read: “Ice is expected to form widely again as surfaces refreeze through the evening and overnight.

“Scattered wintry showers will move inland across parts of northern England and eastern Scotland this evening and overnight into Friday. Showers may lead to some further modest snow accumulations of a few cms inland and over higher ground.”

Snow and ice are continuing to cause disruption across Scotland STV News

It follows several days of extreme weather, which has seen school closures, dangerous travel conditions and communities cut off in the north of Scotland.

Some 440 schools were shut on Wednesday across a number of councils, amounting to 18% of the entire school estate, as Aberdeenshire declared a “major incident” on Tuesday.

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

First Minister John Swinney said on Thursday that efforts have turned to recovery.

He said: “We’ve had a period of really intense and heavy snowfall in certain parts of Scotland, particularly the North East, the Highlands and the Northern Isles and the Western Isles, and the government has been closely engaged with local resilience partnerships throughout that series of amber warnings, and those amber warnings have gone on for a prolonged number of days.

“The challenge with the snow has been, quite simply, the volume, and we’ve had formidable resources available in the North East and in the Highlands to clear transport routes on the trunk roads and also on the rail network, which is the responsibility of the government.

“And we’ve been working closely with local authorities about snow clearing in their localities.”

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He added that priority one routes in Aberdeenshire are now clear, with progress also being made on secondary routes in both Aberdeenshire and the Highlands.

“We are, however, thankfully, in a position where we are able to focus more on recovery than dealing with the immediate incident, and that very much is the focus of all local resilience partnerships, and the government is supporting with the reallocation of resources where that is possible to do so.”

Travel disruption continued on Thursday when a stretch of motorway was closed following multiple collisions in icy conditions.

Police Scotland said the A74(M) was shut in both directions between junctions 14 and 16 in South Lanarkshire on Thursday afternoon, urging motorists to avoid the area.

Assistant chief constable Alan Waddell said local resilience partnerships were continuing to coordinate the response across affected areas.

Assistant chief constable Alan Waddell, of Police Scotland, said: “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.”