Gritter vehicles are out in Aberdeen after the first snow of the winter season fell overnight.
That’s after Aberdeen City Council have warned all in the city to take care in the “icy conditions”.
Many north-east residents woke up this morning to see snow. Some pupils in Aberdeenshire had their journey to school disrupted due to cancelled and rerouted buses.
It comes as temperatures plummeted to freezing overnight, and a new weather warning was issued today for an ‘arctic blast’ over Aberdeen and Scotland’s north.
Now, council officials say they are doing all they can to make the roads in and around Aberdeen as safe as possible.
They have confirmed that Union Street and up to 50 per cent of the main roads have already been gritted, and work is ongoing to cover the rest.
A spokesperson for the council said: “We gritted the primary routes (the main roads which are about 50% of the city’s roads network) from about 4.45am, due to the weather forecast.
“Road surface temperatures are below 0C along with the snow.
“The priority one pavements (Union Street and nearby) were also gritted early morning, too.
“We have started to grit secondary routes around the city and priority two pavements.
“The priority two pavements are treated on area basis, with a priority given to high footfall streets and areas around public facilities, medical facilities, and shopping areas.
“Please take care today as it will be icy in many places and heed police advice for travelling.”
Aberdeenshire school buses cancelled after ‘adverse weather’
Elsewhere, some Aberdeenshire school pupils were sent home and school buses cancelled as temperatures dropped.
Complex needs and enhanced provision pupils were sent home from Banff Academy due to a boiler failure which meant some of the building could not be heated. However, work is being carried out to fix the issue.
An Aberdeenshire Council spokesperson said: ““The heating in part of Banff Academy was not working this morning and, as a result, complex needs pupils and some enhanced provision pupils were sent home.
“Work is currently being carried out to fix the issue. The rest of the Academy is unaffected.”
Meanwhile, transport for school buses in Inverurie and Ellon did not operate this morning after a substantial temperature drop.
Those using the service to get to both Kellands School in Inverurie and Ellon’s Methlick Primary School were forced to find alternative transport.
That’s after Methlick’s ABC transport bus announced they wouldn’t be running thanks to the large snowfall.
“Adverse road conditions” also cancelled Bains chauffeur drive E and D to Kellands.
Other services across the region have also announced route changes.
Aberdeenshire Council have a list of all the up to date times on their website here.
Share temperature drop across Aberdeenshire
The adverse weather conditions comes amid a sharp temperature drop over the weekend across the north of Scotland.
The Met Office issued a yellow weather warning yesterday for the northern Highlands, Moray and the Aberdeenshire coast.
The warning is in place until 11am this morning with cold temperatures expected throughout today and tomorrow.
Several places reported temperatures below freezing during the night.
Elgin was at -3C, while Aberdeen was -2C during overnight, meanwhile Inverness was a whopping -5C.
Met Forecasters predict the next few days will be the coldest spell of the winter season so far, with more wintery weather on the way.
Our reporters are working to bring you the latest updates on this developing story.
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