Snow warning extended as thousands off school

Thousands of school pupils across the north of Scotland are off school because of snow and freezing weather.

Highland Council said almost 140 schools and 100 nurseries were shut while 38 schools in Aberdeenshire and five in Shetland were closed.

Temperatures in some parts of Scotland plunged as low as -12.4C overnight, and the Met Office has extended a yellow warning for snow and ice for northern Scotland until 10:00 on Friday.

Forecasters predicted Thursday could see the coldest January day for more than a decade with the mercury dipping as low as -20C.

Tulloch Bridge in the Highlands recorded a low of -12.4C and Eskdalemuir in Dumfries and Galloway plummeted to -10.1C.

The Highland Council area has been the worst hit by school closures.

Most of the affected schools and nurseries are closed all day while others are open to some pupils or will open later in the day.

Inverness Royal Academy, the largest school in the Highlands, was among those shut.

Driving conditions across the region have been challenging following fresh snowfall and low temperatures.

D&E Coaches, which runs buses for many Highlands schools, confirmed it was not running any services or school transportation this morning for the safety of all passengers.

Almost 40 schools in Aberdeenshire have had to close, further disrupting pupil and staffs' return to school after the Christmas holidays.

In Shetland, five schools are closed including the Junior Highs in Brae and Aith along with three primaries in the north of the islands.

One school in Moray has shut.

The yellow "be aware" warning took effect at 12:00 on Wednesday.

The Met Office said: "Sleet and snow showers will continue for the rest of Thursday, dying out by across north west Scotland overnight but persisting across north east Scotland until Friday morning.

"Further accumulations of 1-4cm are expected to low levels away from coasts with 5-10cm possible above 150m.

"Where any modest daytime thaw has occurred, icy stretches are likely on untreated surfaces."

Snow fields could see temperatures between -16C and -20C.

A temperature of -16C would be the lowest recorded in January in the UK for 15 years, since -22.3C was logged in Altnaharra in the Highlands on 8 January 2010, according to Met Office data.

Duncan Wight farms at Drumoak in Aberdeenshire, where snow was falling thickly this morning.

Mr Wight, who is also contracted by the council to help clear the snow, said that people in the area were staying off the roads to avoid driving into deep snow drifts.

Speaking to the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme, he said: "The snow is difficult to shift.

"The salt is not working and freezing conditions make it very dangerous for the snow-clearing operation for heavy goods vehicles.

"Likes of myself where I'm driving a nine-tonne tractor and you hit ice – it's very easy to slide and cause a lot of damage."

Farmers, he added, are finding it very challenging to get food and water to livestock in present conditions.

"There's absolutely nothing you can do," he said. "They're not getting even a nibble off the grass. The longer this lasts the harder it gets."

Network Rail said teams are working across the country to keep railways open by taking steps such as applying de-icing fluid to the junctions that allow trains to change tracks.

On X, formerly known as Twitter, a spokesperson said: "It's been a challenging week, particularly for teams in the north who've kept services moving in some awful conditions.

"They're well prepared for this extreme cold snap – the temperatures forecast may cause disruption, but we'll do all we can to prevent it."

ScotRail advised the cold weather may cause disruption to some services and passengers should check before they travel.

It also warned passengers to take extra care getting on and off trains due to the icy conditions.

Tuesday night widely fell below freezing, with most of the UK waking up on Wednesday to a frost.

The lowest temperature overnight was recorded in Tulloch Bridge in the Highlands where the mercury dropped to -7C.

The lowest temperature this year came over the weekend when a low of -13.3C was recorded at Loch Glascarnoch in the Highlands.

Last winter the coldest temperature, -14C, was recorded in Dalwhinnie in the Highlands.

But the last time the UK had any temperature below -20C was in February 2021 when Braemar in Aberdeenshire plummeted to -23C.

Meanwhile, a number of weather and flood warnings are in place in England and Wales.

An amber cold health alert - the second-highest level - covering all regions of England, is also in place until midday on Sunday.