Snow woe sweeps back in to Lothians

Drivers struggle at Straiton this morning, while some had already given up

Severe weather warnings were issued for the whole of Scotland and snow is forecast to return today, with five to ten centimetres forecast for the Lothians over the weekend and the possibility of snow showers this evening and freezing overnight temperatures.

Motorists travelling through the Borders and parts of the Lothians this morning said the conditions were the worst they have seen so far this year.

Arctic weather moving south through Scotland caused temperatures to plunge overnight.

The temperature in Edinburgh fell by 3.5 degrees in one hour this morning, from 6.1C at 5am to 2.6C at 6am, and is forecast to continue falling.

Snow hit the south side of the city early this morning as commuters made their way to work.

Forecasters said there will be a brief break on Friday, during which temperatures will fall to -6C, before snow hits the Capital again over the weekend.

Edinburgh city council said that around 30 staff and 20 gritters had been working through the night to keep the priority routes clear.

So far this winter it has used almost 7500 tonnes of salt, well up on the 10,300 tonnes used last year over the whole winter period.

The Met Office forecast heavy snow in West Lothian this morning, breaking briefly on Friday and continuing heavily over the weekend, with temperatures reaching -7C tomorrow night.

The East Lothian coast was similar, with snow and sleet showers expected to run from this morning throughout Friday and into the evening.

Residents in the Borders were waking up to heavy snow in Eyemouth and Hawick.

Scotland's new transport minister Keith Brown MSP worked through the night at Transport Scotland's control room in Glasgow as the country prepared for another blast of severe weather.

He has made assurances that there would be no repeat of last week's weather chaos, which saw drivers stranded on the M8 for up to 45 hours.

Mr Brown said: "We can assure Scotland that every effort is being made to prepare our transport network for the forecast impending heavy snowfall, and that all operations - thousands of people across multiple agencies - are working around the clock to mitigate weather impact."

Police advised people to listen to weather forecasts and check travel websites before they venture out.

A band of snow is expected to sweep south across the whole country, with up to 10cm likely in some places. Northern and western coastal areas are expected to bear the brunt of the wintry showers.

ScotRail said it was planning to withdraw a number of services today after discussions with Network Rail over weather forecasts.

As of this morning there were no rail disruptions to or from Edinburgh city centre, while the police had not implemented any road closures. However, some services from Edinburgh Park were reduced by Scotrail because of "adverse conditions".

The company said that routes subject to temporary withdrawal are mainly in the north of Scotland, however, it was planned that Edinburgh- Dunblane services will operate as normal for the morning peak and then go to an hourly service.

Edinburgh Airport was open this morning, but passengers were warned to check with their airline to ensure their flight was still due to go ahead. Bosses also said delays would be "possible" because of the snow, and that localised flooding was making access to some parts of the airport difficult.