Yellow alert for snow and rain extended
● Up to 10cm of snow on higher ground and several flood warnings
The Met Office has extended a warning for yet more snow and rain across swaths of Scotland, with up to 10cm of snow forecast on higher ground and potential flooding.
Forecasters said the yellow warning will be in place until 9pm this evening, with a band of rain and hill snow expected to push north.
Although the snowfall is not expected to be anywhere near as bad as last week, scattered snow showers are expected to hit worst in the north of the country early this morning, with heavy rainfall spreading north as the day goes on.
The Met Office said commuters could expect further delays to travel and public transport from snow on higher ground, while journey times on low level roads could be longer due to spray and flooding. In eastern coastal areas, as much as 30mm of rainfall is forecast.
As of yesterday evening, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency had four flood alerts in place, covering Fife, the Borders, Dundee, Angus, and Aberdeenshire.
It said persistent rain, coupled with melting snow, could lead to flooding from surface water in low lying areas.
A previous yellow warning for further accumulations of snow across Strathclyde, Central Scotland, Tayside, Fife, Grampian, and the Highlands was due to expire at midnight.
The extended yellow warning for snow and rain spans those areas, as well as the Lothians, Borders, and south west Scotland.
People have been urged to remain vigilant while the weather alerts persist, with police advising motorists to drive with caution in all areas.
With the worst of the heavy snowfall over, transport services across the country returned to near normal operations yesterday, although there were still disruptions.
There were delays on Scotrail trains running to Inverness and Aberdeen due to flooding at Montrose, with some scheduled services running up to three hours behind schedule.
Snowfall also caused delays on the Edinburgh to North Berwick and Dunbar line.
Pupils across Fife, the Borders and West Lothian, are set to return to school today, although Scottish Borders Council said some rural school transport may be affected by local conditions.
Elsewhere, Royal Mail said that while its staff were delivering mail in many areas across the UK, the “exceptionally severe weather” meant that it was still not possible to deliver to some addresses.
A spokeswoman said: “We are doing all that we can to get mail to our customers where it is safe to do so and apologise for any temporary disruption to our services.
“We have robust contingency plans in place and mail is moving well through our networks.”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who yesterday met Lothian Buses driver Charmaine Laurie, who averted disaster after steering her double-decker vehicle away from a stricken car on a snowbound road, praised the response to the severe wintry conditions.
She said: “The extreme weather we have been experiencing is almost unprecedented in its severity, and has clearly presented major challenges to Scotland’s infrastructure.
“It has been a testing time for everyone, but I have been enormously encouraged to see the response from communities coming together, supported by volunteers, and dealing with those challenges together.”