Faint hopes of a white Christmas receive boost after snow shower warning issued by Met Office for Christmas Eve; much of the Highlands is covered by the snow and ice alert, including the Cairngorms, Inverness-shire, Ross-shire, Caithness, Sutherland and much of the Great Glen
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HOPES for a White Christmas have received a faint boost after the Met Office issued a yellow warning for snow and ice in the Highlands heading into Christmas Eve.
The yellow alert comes into force at 9pm on Wednesday and will remain in place until 11am on Christmas Eve. It will cover Ross-shire, Sutherland, Caithness, Lochalsh, the Black Isle, parts of Inverness-shire, Nairn-shire and the Cairngorms.
North Uist, Harris, Lewis, Skye, Raasay, Orkney, Shetland, Moray, Aberdeenshire and much of Angus will also be covered by the alert.
A Met Office spokesman said: "Showers across northern Scotland will turn more persistent from late evening [on Wednesday], with snow occasionally falling to low levels through the night.
"This will result in widespread icy patches on untreated surfaces, and up to 1cm of snow below 100 metres away from the coasts, with 2cm to 3cm between 200 metres and 300 metres.
"Showers will turn less frequent after dawn on Christmas Eve."
They warned that the showers and icy will caused "difficult driving conditions" and stressed that some roads and railways may be affected.
They also warned of icy patches on untreated roads, pavements and cycle paths.
Although snow showers are forecast into Christmas Eve, forecasters currently think Christmas Day will be mostly cloudy, with slightly milder weather heading in from the west later in the day, before turning wet and windy into Boxing Day.
