Hundreds of schools will be closed on Wednesday in anticipation of heavy snow showers and freezing conditions.

The country has already experienced major snowfall and blizzard conditions on Tuesday as a yellow weather warning was issued by the Met Office.

This warning is to be upgraded to amber - the Met's second highest weather alert - from 6am on Wednesday until 6pm on Thursday, affecting most of Scotland.

Nicknamed "the beast from the east", a blast of arctic air coming in from Siberia is expected to bring some of the worst snow seen in Scotland in years, particularly in Fife, Edinburgh and the Lothians.

Temperatures are expected to drop to around -4C overnight, with wind chill making certain areas feel like -15C.

Five to ten cm of snow is expected to lie quite widely, with as much as 25cm possible at higher points in the east.

Edinburgh City Council, East Dunbartonshire Council, East Lothian Council, East Renfrewshire Council, Falkirk Council, Fife Council, Glasgow City Council, Midlothian Council, North Lanarkshire Council, Stirling Council, and West Lothian Council have announced that all schools will be closed in their areas on Wednesday.

Dyce Academy and Manor Park School in Aberdeen and Westhill Academy in Aberdeenshire all have delayed openings this morning.

In Lanarkshire, both councils have cancelled all additional support needs (ASN) transportation but say that they hope schools will otherwise operate as normal.

Angus Council currently plans for all schools and nurseries to open, but has cancelled school transport in the council area for Wednesday.

A number of other councils currently say they intend to keep schools open but advise parents and pupils to keep up to date with the latest developments via their websites or social media.

Scottish Government advice to motorists is not to travel while the amber warning is in place, with disruption on roads and railways expected.

ScotRail hopes to run most of its services as normal but has already announced some changes and cancellations in Glasgow, Fife, Dundee, Inverness and Aberdeen over the next couple of days.

Gritters have been out on roads ahead of heavy snowfall expected to begin later on Tuesday.

Amey, which maintains roads in the south east, said it has 30 vehicles out overnight.

BEAR Scotland have 42 gritters out on roads in the north west.

Deputy first minister John Swinney earlier chaired a meeting of the Scottish Government's resilience team to discuss the response to the weather in the coming days.

Police Scotland have urged anyone who live or intend to visit affected areas not to travel on the roads.

The Forth Road Bridge will be closed due to high winds and the Tay Bridge has restrictions in place due to the weather.

Flights departing to London Heathrow with British Airways have been cancelled at both Edinburgh and Glasgow airports.