A fresh yellow weather warning for snow and ice has been issued by the Met Office for swathes of Scotland.

It comes after an amber "be prepared" weather warning for parts of the country overnight, during which time police had advised drivers to avoid all affected areas.

This was lifted at 5am but a new snow and ice warning is in place in Scotland for most of Thursday morning, while a storm system brought severe gales in parts of England and Wales.

Police Scotland is now advising motorists to drive with "extreme caution" in the areas affected by the wintry conditions.

These include Edinburgh, Glasgow, the Lothians, the Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, Argyll and Bute, Perth and Kinross, the Highlands, Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, Lanarkshire, Fife and Clackmannanshire.

Police Scotland said their advice had been downgraded though there was still a high likelihood of disruption on the roads.

Superintendent Calum Glenny said: "Despite some difficult weather conditions in the Dumfries and Galloway area which caused some disruption, the weather was not as severe as was first forecast.

"Thankfully, a significant number of motorists heeded the warnings which had been issued to avoid travelling on the roads and I'd like to thank them for doing so.

"When we take decisions to upgrade travel warnings, we do so with careful consideration and public safety is paramount at all times."

During the night, temperatures dropped at low as -7C in Loch Glascarnoch in the Highlands while snowfalls continued to be topped up, with Eskdalemuir in Dumfries and Galloway recording 36cm of lying snow.

Overnight, the A75 was blocked for round an hour near Dumfries due to a number of lorries being unable to climb a hill.

The fresh warning comes after heavy snowfall on Tuesday night left hundreds of drivers stranded on the M74.

Mountain rescue teams were drafted in to help motorists as cars and lorries were left stuck on the road for hours overnight.

Transport minister Humza Yousaf apologised to the motorists who were stranded during a session at the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday.

Thousands of pupils will also experience a second snow day in a row, with all schools closed in the Scottish Borders and East Ayrshire and some closed in South Lanarkshire.

STV weather presenter Sean Batty said: "While the north of Scotland gets off with drier and clearer conditions overnight, the temperatures could fall very low in some snow covered glens, given the light winds here.

"On Thursday we're back to sunshine and scattered wintry showers, like the last couple of days, mainly affecting the north and west.

"Friday is another day with scattered wintry showers, some on the heavy side and perhaps merging into longer spells of snow across the Grampians.

"Saturday will be a drier and sunnier day for most parts of the country, then milder weather along with rain will spread in from the west on Sunday, although there will be a period of snow over the hills for a time."