Snow end in sight for cold snap...

Scotland was expected to endure the UK’S coldest night of the winter so far, with the mercury plunging to -16° Cin Aberdeenshire last night. Braemar had already created a new low with -15.4°C on Thursday.

Extensive snow cover, coupled with skies clearing yesterday evening, were expected to provide the perfect conditions to allow temperatures to fall even further.

“A new low is a possibility,” said Sophie Yeomans of the Met Office. “We are currently confident of a

-14° Cora-15 °C but it could go even lower.

“There have been widespread snow falls in that part of the country, which tends to bring temperatures down overnight.”

Yesterday, truckers encountered severe conditions in north-east Scotland, struggling to get traction on snow-covered roads.

Near Keith in Moray, police said three HGVS got into difficulty on the A96 Aberdeen-inverness road.

In Glasgow, motorway chaos followed a collision on the M8 at Provan, when two lanes were shut westbound.

Scotland Transerv announced that it was postponing resurfacing work on the A77 at Maybole in Ayrshire, due to the bad weather.

And a woman was saved by firefighters after she tried in vain to save a dog that had fallen into the River Tyne at Haddington.

Long-range forecasts from the Met Office suggest colder than normal conditions for the rest of this month.