SCOTLAND was still in the grip of severe winter weather last night and will remain so until the early afternoon of today, according to the Met Office.
The latest yellow “be aware” warning covers all of Scotland until 2pm, with a Met Office spokesman saying: “Ice is likely to form on untreated surfaces, especially where showers of sleet, snow and hail occur.”
He added: “Two to four centimetres of snow may affect low-lying areas, with five to 10 centimetres over higher ground.”
Snow and strong winds caused power cuts, toppled trees and blocked roads yesterday with up to 10cm of snow falling in parts of the north and north east which bore the brunt of the weather.
Some 2,000 properties as far apart as Caithness and Aberdeenshire suffered power cuts of varying lengths of time. Two secondary schools, 17 primaries and 10 nurseries were closed by Highland Council, while in Aberdeenshire five schools were shut and one closed its doors in Moray.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency also issued a flood alert and flood warning for the Moray coast between Findhorn and Lossiemouth due to a combination of high tides, a storm surge and large waves, though high tide appeared to pass without great damage.
The Met Office confirmed that “large waves affecting coasts may lead to over-topping”.
Due to the gale force winds around coastal areas Caledonian MacBrayne cancelled some ferry sailings to and from Arran, and on the Skye to North Uist and Harris routes.
There was extensive disruption to road transport with a number of roads in the Borders affected by the bad weather. Cars were stuck on the A699 Selkirk to St Boswells road and the A708 Selkirk to Moffat, both of which were closed for some hours while a fallen tree blocked the A701 near Beattock.
On northern roads, traffic on the A9 was disrupted for a second day running, with the southbound carriageway closed south of the Drumochter summit. Deep snow also forced the closure of the A93 between Braemar and Glenshee and the A939 between Cock Bridge and Tomintoul.
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