Wintry weather will send a chill through voters at today’s General Election, the first time a UK-wide poll has been held in December in 96 years.

Voters on one Scottish island even encountered their own landslide before polling day when mud and rubble cascaded onto a road on Raasay.

Today, some voters may face white-out conditions, with snow forecast for higher areas of the Highlands and Aberdeenshire.

Large swathes of Scotland have also been placed under a Met Office warning for severe weather this morning, with weathermen predicting people could be injured falling on icy pavements.

The ice warning period is due to expire at 10am, three hours after polling stations open, but even by day, Scotland’s cities will remain as cold as a domestic fridge.

Oli Claydon of the Met Office said:”In Edinburgh, we do not expect to see a day time temperature higher than 4C (39F) but due to the wind chill on the east coast, it will feel more like 1C (33F).

“It will be slightly higher in Aberdeen and Glasgow at 5C (41F) but that’s still a pretty chilly daytime temperature.”

Not since 1923 has a General Election been held in the month of December, when extreme weather could deter elderly and infirm people from going out to vote.

A huge contingency plan has been put in place in some of the country’s more remote locations to ensure the votes reach the counting stations.

The so-called ‘Brexit Election’ is being held against a backdrop of extreme conditions, including the rescue of a mother, her baby and a pensioner in Dumfries and Galloway on Tuesday.

Their vehicles became stuck in floodwater on the A762 near Glenlee. A 36-year-old woman, her 23-month-old baby and a 73-year-old man had to be helped from their vehicles by fire fighters.

On the same day, two lorries blocked the main A1 road between Scotland and England when they were blown over, one of them onto a police vehicle which had been called to the incident.

This morning, temperatures are expected to fall below freezing in the heartlands of Scotland, an area stretching from just north of the central belt to the most north easterly tip of the country.

Areas affected include Central, Tayside and Fife, Grampian and Argyll and Bute.

Meanwhile, an area from Glasgow down to the Borders has been told to expect similarly bone-chilling conditions.

The Met Office said it was expecting “some injuries from slips and falls on icy surfaces.

“Probably some icy patches on some untreated roads, pavements and cycle paths.”

On top of that, wintry showers are expected to lead to snow on higher ground, above 200 metres. Yesterday, severe weather continued to have an impact on Scots’ pre-Christmas travel plans.

A landslide blocked a road at Creagan Beaga on the isle of Raasay but disruption was minimal as there is an alternative route nearby.

Flooding at Blairhill in North Lanarkshire was disrupting services through Queen Street Low Level station and flooding at Muirhouse in Glasgow prevented normal service on the city’s Cathcart Circle line.

During the early hours of the morning, the flood alarm for the River Earn viaduct activated, causing some delays between Glasgow and Aberdeen but things returned to normal later.

Cal Mac sailings continued to be disrupted on the west coast, with the ferry company hoping to run a revised service on many routes today (Thurs).

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency had seven flood alerts in place yesterday, plus 12, more serious, flood warnings.

The weather has also been impacting on plans for today’s vote. Highland Council has already switched the location for its count because the Inverness Leisure Centre is easier to keep warm than the first choice Ross County Football Academy in Dingwall.

The council has 4X4 vehicles on standby to help anyone who gets into difficulty.