Hundreds of schools have been closed across northern Scotland amid a weather warning for snow and ice which has been extended until Friday.

The Met Office yellow weather warning covers Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray, the Highlands, Orkney and Shetland, as well as the Outer Hebrides, and is now place until 10am on Friday.

It warns snowfall could reach up to 10cm in higher regions.

Overnight on Wednesday, temperatures fell as low as minus 12C at Tulloch Bridge in the Highlands.

Thousands of Highland Council pupils had Thursday off as 24 secondary schools, 113 primary schools, 88 nurseries and three special schools were closed.

In Aberdeenshire, 41 schools were closed while others had their opening times delayed.

School bus services were suspended on Orkney and prelim exams were cancelled due to “snow and poor road conditions” at Kirkwall Grammar School.

All school transport provided by the Shetland Islands Council was also cancelled on Thursday, however some public bus services ran.

In the Western Isles, only one school was closed however six had a delayed opening, while one school was closed in Moray.

Oli Claydon, spokesman for the Met Office, told the PA news agency it will be “bitterly cold” on Thursday night.

He said the lowest temperatures will be recorded in rural Scotland and rural northern England where there is lying snow, cloudless skies and very cold airflow.

A temperature of minus 14C would equal the lowest seen in this month last year, recorded in Dalwhinnie in the Highlands on January 17, 2024.

But a temperature of minus 16C would be the lowest recorded in January in the UK for 15 years, since minus 22.3C was logged in Altnaharra in the Highlands on January 8 2010, according to Met Office data.

The Met Office warned people to take care while walking on ice, with the coastguard having rescued a woman who suffered a head injury in a fall.

A spokesperson said: “A 58-year-old female suffered a head injury after she slipped and fell on ice near Camusrory Estate at the head of Loch Nevis.

“She was evacuated by coastguard rescue reams.”