Hundreds of schools in Scotland remain closed amid freezing temperatures

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Hundreds of schools are shut, some for a fourth day, as weather warnings including an amber alert remain in place across many parts of the country.Much of the UK endured temperatures below freezing overnight, with preliminary data from the Met Office indicating the mercury fell to as low as minus 13.6C at Tulloch Bridge in the Highlands.It comes after the UK had its coldest night of the winter so far on Tuesday into Wednesday, when Dalwhinnie in the Scottish Highlands experienced a temperature of minus 14C.An amber warning for snow across northern Scotland, the Orkney and Shetland Islands is currently in place until 6pm on Thursday, with the potential of up to 20cm more snowfall.All schools were closed on Thursday amid the wintry conditions in Orkney and in Shetland, where many have been shut since Monday.In Aberdeenshire around 130 schools were shut and others have delayed openings, while in Moray nine schools and nurseries were closed due to the weather and others have late or staggered starts.Other parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland have a yellow snow and ice warning spanning the whole of Thursday, while the north and northwest of the UK are likely to see further wintry outbreaks over the next 24 hours.Separate, shorter snow and ice warnings are in place for Wales and south-west England, until 11am on Thursday, and in eastern England until midday on Thursday, as both areas could see wintry showers that lead to icy patches.A final yellow ice warning for south-east England, including Kent, Surrey and East Sussex, will run until 10am on Thursday.Met Office chief meteorologist Jason Kelly said: “With deep snow already lying on the ground for many in the northern half of the UK, we’re going to see a significant topping