Scotland has been warned to brace itself for the first serious blast of winter with up to four inches of snow expected to strike parts of the country by the middle of the week.
Forecasters from the Met Office say the chill begins with a yellow weather warning for ice that will be in place between 3am and 10pm today.
READ MORE: Worsening weather will leave Scots islanders marooned
Drivers have been warned there may be icy stretches in most parts of Scotland from early morning in Central, Strathclyde, Tayside, Fife, Grampian, Highlands, South West Scotland and Lothian Borders.
Clear skies and calm conditions mean temperatures will fall below freezing, making driving conditions difficult during the morning rush-hour.
Alex Burkhill, forecaster at the Met Office, said last night: “There will be a bit of wintry stuff around in the north of Scotland. There’s quite a lot of rain around and wet surfaces will turn to ice in the early hours .
“For parts of northern Scotland and northern England there will be snow on higher ground.
“The Pennines could see 12cms of snow and it will mainly fall on higher ground in Scotland.”
The forecaster said rain would turn to sleet or snow, with areas such as the
Cairngorms seeing snow flurries.
Council gritters were preparing for the cold weather following the Met Office yellow weather warning.
Traffic warnings were also issued by Police Scotland and Traffic Scotland.
ScotlandTransServe, which maintains the South West Scotland road network, said it had 15 gritters being used on trunk roads as the temperatures dropped to -4°C
in places.
Police also issued a warning to pedestrians. A spokesman said: “Dig out the scraper for the car and take care on untreated roads and pavements.”
Another change in the weather is expected by the end of the week, with wet and windy conditions adding to the wintry weather picture.
Atlantic gales follow on Thursday, at the weekend and in the run-up to Christmas, with increasing cold spells through the festive period.
Met Office forecaster Dean Hall said: “It’s unsettled until skies clear on Monday night, with a chance of [the temperature going] down to -6.7°C, with Scotland coldest.
“Heavy rain later on Tuesday could turn readily to snow over 300 metres (almost 1,000ft) in southern Scotland, with two to five centimetres (two inches) of snow and more possible.
“Travel conditions could be nasty, with possible blizzards and drifts.
“The first half of December sees low pressure systems moving in from the Atlantic, with strong winds and rain bringing the risk of travel disruption and surface water, and hill snow, particularly in the North.
“From mid to late December, wet and windy weather will bring gales or severe gales. It will turn colder in any drier interludes.”
Polar Vortex temperatures of -14°C are expected to affect Scotland from Christmas, said ex-BBC and Met Office forecaster John Hammond, of weathertrending.
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