Scotland had its coldest night of the winter so far on Wednesday as the cold snap caused icy conditions across the country.

The lowest temperature in the UK was recorded in Braemar, Aberdeenshire, which dipped to -11C overnight.

The freezing temperatures have led to weather warnings being issued by the Met Office for snow, ice and fog on Thursday and into Friday.

Met Office forecaster Mark Wilson said the cold temperatures were due to stick around.

"It's been a very, very cold night.

"On Thursday night we could see similar temperatures in Scotland.

"Saturday night into Sunday could also be very cold."

Yellow weather warnings for ice are in place in north-western Scotland and the Northern and Western Isles, alerting travellers to be wary of slippery roads.

And most of Scotland should also be prepared for snowfall, the Met Office warned.

The deepest snowfall recorded in the UK on Wednesday was 11cm in Tulloch Bridge in Inverness-shire.

Police Scotland took to Twitter to alert road users to hazardous conditions, whilst Traffic Scotland urged motorists to take care - especially on bridges which could be slippy.

The wintry conditions are expected to last well into Friday with warnings of ice and snow likely to bring travel disruption over parts of north and east Scotland.

Councils have prepared for heavy snow, stocking up with more than 1.4 million tonnes of salt, the Local Government Association said.

The weather has already caused widespread disruption this week.

Over 40 schools have been shut in the Highlands, with many going into their third day of closure, whilst a number of ScotRail services have also been cancelled.

Last night, a climber was airlifted off a mountain in the Cairngorms after being injured in bad weather.

It was the second rescue of the week for the Cairngorm MRT, who also rescued a climber that had fallen on a plateau on Tuesday evening.