Scotland enters second consecutive weekend of snow and ice alerts

Snow, ice and bitterly cold temperatures are to grip much of the country over the next two days as Scotland enters its second consecutive weekend of weather warnings.

An amber alert for snow is coming into force on Sunday (January 11) running from 3am until 2pm across the North East into Tayside and Central Scotland.

The Met Office warn parts of the country above 300m could face between 20-30cm of snow and urges Scots to avoid driving where possible during the warning period.

Another yellow alert for snow and ice remains in place most of Scotland until 3pm on Saturday.

Rain warnings have also now been issued for south west Scotland and north west Scotland, both starting at 2am on Sunday.

A band of snow moving over Scotland and northern England could cause more travel delays and disruption.

Many schools remained closed for a fifth day on Friday, with heavy snow continuing to disrupt travel in some places.

Snow closed the Inverness-Wick railway line and a number of local roads remained closed.

However the main routes in the north and north-east have been cleared.

The Met Office said of the latest weather warnings: “Whilst not all areas will be affected, scattered wintry showers will continue to feed inland from the North Sea through Friday afternoon, evening and overnight into Saturday morning.

“These are likely to give some snow accumulations in places, more especially on hills above 100m elevation where 2cm to 5cm will be possible.

“Ice will be a more widespread hazard, especially overnight as temperatures fall widely below freezing, particularly away from immediate windward coasts.”

Ministers met police, local authorities and other bodies on Friday to discuss the response to the weather.

Justice Secretary Angela Constance said: “As we enter a second consecutive weekend of weather warnings with continued snowfall and cold conditions forecast, I appreciate parts of Scotland are still not back to normal.

“While progress on recovery by partners continues at pace, I again want to thank the public for their patience and understanding that full recovery takes time.”

The north and north east of Scotland have seen several days of “intense” snowfall, ice and sub-zero temperatures which have led to school closures and travel disruption.

John Swinney travelled to Aberdeen on Friday to thank gritter operators, transport depot staff, police and other workers helping keep the main road network open and safe.

The First Minister said he wanted to “come to see first-hand the impacts of the winter weather, and to express my thanks to those who’ve worked so hard to keep the transport networks operating and to make sure that support for individuals is available within the community”.

He continued: “It has been a really challenging period for everybody and I thank members of the public for their patience and support.”

More than 250 schools remained closed on Friday, including more than 150 in Aberdeenshire, dozens in the Highlands and Aberdeen, and a number in Moray.

Many pupils will have had a whole week off school at the start of the new term, though remote learning has been provided in many cases.

Aberdeenshire Council declared a major incident on Tuesday, warning of a “good chance” some rural communities would be cut off, as well as the possibility of power cuts.

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.”