Thundersnow and heavy winds are expected to batter parts of Scotland this week.

The worst of the showers will affect areas including Glasgow, Ayrshire, Argyll, Dumfries and the Highlands from Monday night.

Travel delays are expected on major routes including the M8 and M80.

STV weather presenter Sean Batty said as much as 20cm of snow could fall in some areas.

He said: "Winter is set to return on Monday as colder air which left Canada and Greenland at the weekend starts to push in from the west. Frequent and heavy showers in the north and west will increasingly turn to snow during Monday, with snow at all levels by Monday night.

"While the most frequent showers will affect the west, showers are likely to be quite frequent in eastern parts of central Scotland, being blown through on a strong westerly wind.

"Most of Angus and Aberdeenshire will have a lot of shelter east of the Grampians and will therefore see drier and clearer conditions.

"Most of the country is at risk of around 5cm of snow at low levels, with up to 20cm at higher levels over the coming few days. On the upper slopes of the ski centres in the west, there looks like being over half a metre of snow coming in the next couple of days."

Sean said gusts of up to 80mph could hit certain parts of the country.

He added: "Frequent and heavy showers will continue through most of Tuesday too with more snow adding to the snow cover that quite a few people will wake up to in the morning.

"The snow and ice later on Monday and through Tuesday and Wednesday could have some impacts on public transport.

"Drivers and cyclists should be careful of some icy stretches in the coming days and be prepared to allow a bit of extra time for travel."

Sean continued: "In such a cold and unstable air flow there's a high possibility that thundersnow - a weather phenomenon featuring the unusual combination of thunder, lightning and snow - may occur.

"The temperature of the cloud tops today could reach below -40C, which gives a much higher risk of frequent lightning occurring.

"Another point of concern this week is the possibility of a storm developing on Wednesday night which will bring a combination of heavy rain, snow and strong winds.

"Currently it's very tricky to pinpoint the areas which will be worst affected, as the position of this system could change closer to the time.

"At the moment it looks as though the centre of the storm will cross central Scotland, meaning the winds would Dumfries and Galloway and northern England, where winds could reach in excess of 80mph in the most exposed areas."