Snow warnings in place for Edinburgh, Glasgow and Borders

A snow warning has been issued for Scotland's two largest cities as temperatures are set to plunge.

The Met Office issued a yellow warning for tomorrow, predicting snowfall across Edinburgh and the Lothians, Glasgow and Strathclyde and the Scottish Borders.

Blizzard-like conditions are expected between the hours of 03:00am and 15:00 on Friday 29 December.

The Met Office said: “A spell of snow is expected across parts of Scotland and the northern half of England on Friday. A separate amber warning is in force for parts of northern England.

The Met Office predicts snow on Friday 29 December across the Central belt. Picture: Phil Wilkinson

“Some roads and railways will be affected leading to longer journey times by road, bus and train services. Some delays to air travel are also expected.”

In the north east and northern isles, ice warnings are in place for tomorrow.

Forecasters also predicted parts of the country may have to endure the “coldest night of the year so far”

Weather warnings for Scotland tomorrow. Picture: Met Office

Met Office spokeswoman Nicola Maxey warned “The coldest temperature we have seen this year is minus 13C in Scotland, and we are likely to see temperatures slightly below that,” she added.

“But we are not talking about those extremes in the town and city centres, it is out in rural areas, more exposed areas, particularly over lying snow where you see temperatures drop the most.”

On Wednesday snowfall caused widespread disruption with a lorry crash on the M1, resulting in the closure of the southbound carriageway, a jackknifed HGV on the M5 in Gloucestershire, and severe conditions on the A14 near Kettering.

Homes were left without power, and in Scotland three climbers had to be rescued from the Cairngorms mountain range after getting lost in blizzard conditions.