Brrrace yourself... and ice as mercury drops to -14.4C

THE Met Office has issued another snow and ice warning for Scotland after 10 days of wintry weather, with up to 30cm of the white stuff possible in parts of the country.

- BY DOUGLAS DICKIE

Snowy Pentland Hills, above Edinburgh

The new alert for tomorrow covers almost all of the mainland, other than some parts of the west coast but includes Glasgow and Edinburgh, although central Scotland has so far escaped widespread disruption despite previous weather warnings.

The picture has been very different in the Highlands and north east, where some places have seen their snowiest conditions in living memory with schools closed and the transport network struggling to cope.

Snow more than 27cm (10.6in) deep has been recorded in Altnaharra, Sutherland, while overnight temperatures plunged to -13.3C (8.6F) in Braemar, Aberdeenshire, yesterday and -14.4C (6F) in Tomintoul, Banffshire, in the early hours of Thursday.

Many schools were still closed yesterday, including more than 160 in Aberdeenshire, 78 in Aberdeen and 63 in the Highlands.

Most main roads in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray and the Highlands have now been cleared, although Aberdeenshire Council – which declared a major incident earlier this week - says some of its 3,500 miles of roads may still be blocked.

The Scottish Government has been criticised for a lacklustre response, with farmers and crofters doing much of the work clearing roads and rescuing stranded drivers.