Scotland set to shiver as forecasts predict snow will blanket country

A series of weather warnings are in place for Scotland this week, with the Met Office forecasting snow and ice for large swathes of the nation.

North of the Border, the warnings come into force late this evening and will carry through into tomorrow afternoon. The Highlands, Grampian, Strathclyde, South West Scotland, Lothian and Borders, Central Tayside and Fife will all be affected.

Themercurycouldplummet as low as -7C (19.4F) in sheltered parts of Scotland. Met Office forecaster Craig Snell said the first full week of February would probably be “one of our coldest weeks of this winter so far”.

He said: “It’s going to be a cold week, plenty of dry weather around, but many places will probably see some snow at some point during the week, but for a lot of us not really amounting to much at all.

“Probably one of our coldest weeks of this winter so far, but snow-fall wise, doesn’t really look too disruptive at this stage.”

Around 1-3cm of snow could accumulate inland. Mr Snell said the week would start on a “bitterly cold” note, with the bulk of the population waking up to temperatures between 0C to -2C (32-28.4F). Then, between 9pm on Monday and 3pm on Tuesday, there is a further chance of snow and ice for the north of England, Northern Ireland, north Wales and Scotland.