Scots braced for weekend of snow as weather map reveals baltic start to New Year

SCOTLAND is set to be hit by snowfall this weekend as a bitter three-day Arctic blast sweeps across the country.

Fresh flurries will land across the country over the coming days, as weather maps reveal a freezing start to the New Year.

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The Met Office has issued warnings for “significant” snow for the first working week of 2025 days after an alert for ice was in place.

Scots were warned to brace for snow in the Highlands and Islands while a yellow warning for ice covered the rest of the country.

It kicked in at 4pm yesterday and is in place until 10am today after the polar blast caused Hogmanay chaos.

Luckily, there is a break in the weather alerts tomorrow, but this has been described as the calm before the storm with things set to change dramatically at the weekend.

A new 45-hour weather warning for snow is now in place across the south of Scotland and along some central belt areas from Saturday.

It kicks in at noon and does not end until 9am on Monday, when many will be returning to work and school.

Whilst there is a fair bit of uncertainty as to how far north this may spread, and how long any snow will last, significant accumulations of snow are possible

Met Office warning

At the moment, the warning is confined to Central, Tayside, Fife, southwest Scotland, Lothian and Borders and North and South Lanarkshire.

While the west will be mostly unaffected, it starts up as high as Cumbernauld and continues down through to Lanark and Biggar.

Areas along the east including Livingston, Edinburgh, Kelso and Wooler are also covered by the warning.

The south is expected to be among some of the worst-hit locations, including Moffat, Dumfries and Galloway, Thornhill and Lockerbie.

From there it continues down to London covering most of England and some areas of Wales.

The Met Office said power cuts could occur, some rural communities could become cut off and public transport services affected.

The warning states: “Outbreaks of rain spreading northeastwards later on Saturday and overnight into Sunday will likely be preceded by a spell of snow on its northern flank.

“Whilst there is a fair bit of uncertainty as to how far north this may spread, and how long any snow will last, significant accumulations of snow are possible, especially – but not exclusively – on hills.”

It added: “There is a small chance that power cuts will occur and other services, such as mobile phone coverage, may be affected.

“There is a slight chance that some rural communities could become cut off.

There’s a chance on untreated roads that ice will still be an issue… I think we will see further snow and ice warnings issued

Marco Petagnasenior Met Office meteorologist

“There is a chance of travel delays on roads with some stranded vehicles and passengers, along with delayed or cancelled rail and air travel”.

Today Scots have been urged to wrap up as the Arctic chill is set to cause temperatures to plummet.

Some areas in the Scottish Highlands could see the mercury levels fall to a bone-chilling -10C by 6pm tonight.

The central belt, including Glasgow and Edinburgh, will see temperatures hover around -2C.

The west coast will feel cold with temperatures of -1C while locations in the east including Aberdeen and Dundee will feel the chill between -2C and -5C.

Areas further north around Inverness will have lows of -4C while the south, around Dumfries and Gallow, will hover around -2C.

Gritters were out in force last night across the country preparing and treating roads for the cold and icy conditions.

Marco Petagna, senior Met Office meteorologist, said: “Most roads will be treated, there’s a chance on untreated roads that ice will still be an issue.

“On Friday I think we will see further snow and ice warnings issued.”

Scots have also been urged to prepare for potential travel chaos today as public transport returns after a break for the New Year.

ScotRail has told passengers that crews at Network Rail have been checking routes across the network after lines were severely impacted by the Hogmanay weather chaos.

Staff revealed that crews are checking the West Highland Line to Mallaig and Oban as well as the Highland Main Line to see if trains can operate on them.

However, the Far North Line between Inverness and Wick/Thurso will remain closed today after it was impacted by landslips.

All other routes are expected to operate as normal today.

Overnight snow has also caused some issues on the roads with Traffic Scotland confirming that the snow gates on the A939 Cock Bridge to Tomintoul Road are still closed.

Yesterday the A9 in the Highlands had to be cleared of standing snow by ploughs at Daviot, a few miles south of Inverness.

It comes as millions celebrated the Bells at home on Tuesday night after outdoor events were cancelled due to yellow and amber warnings for wind and snow.

Over New Year, the top wind speed recorded in Scotland was 66mph on the Fair Isle at 1pm on Hogmanay.

From the start of New Year’s Eve until 11am yesterday, 67mm (2.6 inches) of rain fell at Coille Mhorgil in north west Scotland.

Met Office meteorologist Tom Morgan said: “At the moment we’ve issued a very large snow warning for Saturday until Monday but it doesn’t mean that everywhere within that warning could see snow, it’s just a heads-up there could be some impacts.”

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