White Christmas for parts of Scotland with blizzards forecast for Boxing Day

Parts of Scotland have woken up to a White Christmas with snow blizzards forecast for Boxing Day.

Braemar on Christmas morning. PIC: Contributed.

Snow has fallen throughout Aberdeeshire and Perthshire, with the Met Office declaring a White Christmas for Scotland.

Braemar was transformed into a winter wonderland with snow falling throughout Christmas Eve and into this morning.

Guests at the Fife Arms Hotel woke up to magical scenes.

Snow has fallen on large parts of Perthshire, Aberdeenshire and the south Highlands with guests at the Fife Arms in Braemar waking up to this wintry scene. PIC: Braemar, Ballater and Deeside Weather Page @Alonso2012F.

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A member of staff at the hotel said: “It is lovely here today and some our guests woke up at 4am and saw the snow coming down. It feels lovely and festive, we have the Christmas tunes on, the lights are all on and the village is covered in powdery snow.”

A Met Office spokesperson said: “We have seen snowfall through the early hours of Christmas Day, though there has not been any significant snowfall since 5am this morning.

“Up until then we saw snowfall across Aberdeenshire, Perthshire and Shetland.

The Fife Arms in Braemar peeping through the snow. PIC: Contributed.

“We have seen snowfall on Christmas Day, so it is officially a white Christmas.”

A yellow weather warning has been issued for Boxing Day with conditions expected to bring travel delays and possible short-term power cuts.

Snow is predicted to fall across a large part of the Central Belt.

Clackmannanshire, Falkirk, Perth and Kinross, Stirling, Dumfries and Galloway, Midlothian, Scottish Borders, West Lothian, Argyll and Bute, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, and West Dunbartonshire are likely to be affected.

The Met Office said: “As an area of rain moves northwards, it looks like turning to snow over the higher parts of Northern England, and then southern and central Scotland.

“Coupled with strong winds, gusting to 35 to 45 mph in places, this is likely to lead to some difficult travel conditions across higher Pennine and Cumbrian routes, as well as the Southern Uplands, during the early hours of Sunday.

“Temporary blizzard-like conditions may be encountered above around 300 or 400 metres elevation.

“These conditions will probably move into some hillier central parts of Scotland during Sunday morning, while snow turns back to rain further south.

“The extent of snowfall is uncertain at this stage.”

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