MOTORISTS faced difficult driving conditions today as snow blanketed parts of Scotland.

Around seven inches of snow fell in Aviemore in the Highlands overnight as an Arctic weather front bore down on the UK.

The Met Office issued severe weather warnings for all of Scotland, as well as parts of northern England, Yorkshire and Humber, and the East Midlands.

There were a number of minor collisions and reports of cars sliding off the road in Tayside and Fife where some vehicles also became stuck in the snow in the Largoward and St Monans area.

Roads were closed in some areas due to the weather.

The wintry blast comes just a week after record-breaking warm temperatures in north-eastern Scotland.

Last Tuesday temperatures rose to 23.6C in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, marking a new high in Scotland for the month.

Today the mercury dropped to minus 0.5C overnight and was at 0C at 6am.

Around four inches (10cm) of snow has carpeted most parts of northern Scotland overnight, with accumulations of 7.5 inches (17cm) recorded in Aviemore in the Highlands and temperatures of minus 2.7C in Glen Ogle.

Scotland’s central belt was also hit by the wintry weather, which will gradually creep into northern England, parts of Wales and the Midlands in the coming 24 hours.

Scottish Transport Minister Keith Brown told BBC Radio Scotland: “This kind of weather is much more normal for Scotland than the superb weather we have had over the previous days. So we have had, for example, 124 gritters out overnight.

“Because we’ve not had this kind of weather over previous weeks, it can catch people by surprise and what we’re saying is people should listen to the media, take on board any information they’ve got about the likely length of time to make their journeys and take the appropriate precautions.”

In the Highlands many roads had snow.