Worst winter weather in November for 17 years

SCOTLAND found itself under a blanket of snow on today (Sun) – with forecasters warning of much more to come.

Roads were treacherous in parts with winds from Siberia expected to see temperatures plunge even lower come Monday, making it feel even worst than the minus 10 degrees Celcius recorded in some areas.

The Met Office issued severe weather warnings for much of the country, with Scotland’s east coast expect to bear much of the worst.

Some predicted around eight inches of snow could fall overnight in Fife alone in addition to what was already lying.

Forecasters said the amount of snowfall would vary across the country between five and 15 centimeters.

Up to 25 centimeters could fall on higher ground, they said.

A spokesman for the Met Office said: “Over the next few days we will see snow, snow and more snow.”

The AA said it had so far dealt with an 80 per cent surge in emergency call outs on Saturday alone compared with last year.

Police across the country issues warnings for drivers to take care, with the A9 in Stirlingshire giving particular cause for concern.

Edinburgh Airport was among those to close while trains were cancelled and motorways reduced to a crawl of even closed in parts.

Football matches between Dundee Utd and Rangers and also Motherwell versus Hearts all fell victim to the conditions.

With the cold snap expected to last for a fortnight at least, Scotland’s ski centres were reporting brisk business.

Some stores also ran out of sledges and salt as Scots flocked to make the best of the conditions.

The Scottish Government convened its winter resilience committee over the weekend to assess the situation.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said: “last year we were running low on salt and grit but local authorities have made sure that they have stocked up.

“We have 360,000 tonnes and that’s two month’s heavy duty.   “We have got a supply coming in on Monday and they’re coming in on a regular basis.”

Planners came in for severe criticism last winter as the country slithered to a halt when many councils ran out of grit.   Hundreds of schools had to close, roads were left untreated and parts of the country slithered to a halt amid the chaos.

Weather experts said the weekend conditions were the worst suffered in a November by Scots since the white hell of 1993.