Snow ploughs and gritting crews have been working through the night as Fife bore the brunt of the so-called Beast From The East.
Significant snowfall has been recorded across the region overnight as strong winds, wintry weather and even thundersnow swept in from Siberia off the North Sea.
The Met Office’s highest level of alert, a red warning, remains in place until 10am on Thursday, although an amber warning is in force for at least the rest of the day and potentially into the weekend as further snow showers are forecast.
All bus services in Fife and Perth have been suspended this morning, and Stagecoach said it will review the situation at 8am.
All Fife and Perth services remain suspended due to adverse weather and road conditions, We will review the situation at 8am and update our Twitter feed and this link to advise of likely operations then. Apologies. > https://t.co/QIfm6PS0w5
— Stagecoach East Scot (@StagecoachEScot) March 1, 2018
ScotRail has also advised people not to travel and confirmed that it will not be running trains through Fife until late morning at the earliest.
? ⚠ A RED weather warning is in force from the @MetOffice, we will not run trains in the affected areas until late morning at the very earliest – even then we will only be introducing a small number of services if it is safe to do so.
— ScotRail (@ScotRail) March 1, 2018
All schools in Fife will remain closed on Thursday, with a decision on Friday expected later today, while Fife Council has warned of widespread disruption to other council services and facilities.
Fife Council’s chief executive Steve Grimmond admitted: “We’re having to take unprecedented actions in the face of the red alert.
“Heavy and prolonged snow showers are upon us with the Met Office telling us as much as 20-30cm – even 40cm of snow could be lying in places by mid-morning Thursday.
“We’ll continue to run the gritting fleet as long as it’s safe to do so, but we cannot contend with recurring heavy snowfalls.
“I want to thank employees who have been out and about in freezing temperatures to do what they can to keep communities open and vital services, such as meals on wheels running.”
Great pic of @lynne_garvey and her team heading out earlier today for the baby clinics, just one of thousands of Fife health and social care workers from across the Kingdom who battled through ‘the Beast from the East’ today. #severeweatherheroes Stay safe! pic.twitter.com/Np2VjBfGP6
— Michael Kellet (@FifeHSCP) February 28, 2018
Roads across Fife are treacherous and Police Scotland has advised people not to travel.
After the main Kirkcaldy to Kinghorn road was impassable for a time on Wednesday night and caused many to abandon their cars, many other routes are affected by the conditions as gritters continue to work flat out to try to clear the way.
The A92 has been blocked at Freuchie between the village and the Melville Lodges roundabout as a result of snowy conditions, while the A907 Dunfermline to Gartary Roundabout, Kincardine, was also closed early on Thursday morning as various locations along length of road were blocked by snow drifts.
#LIVE – Watch our video to see some of the road conditions in #Fife tonight. #NotGreat
Please only call us if you genuinely need us. #999 in an emergency or #101 for non-emergencies. pic.twitter.com/k5yrvsUnei
— Fife Police (@FifePolice) February 28, 2018
There is also widespread disruption elsewhere.
Fife College confirmed all its campuses will be closed for the duration of Thurrsday.
Fife Cultural Trust, Fife Sports and Leisure Trust and Fife Resource Solutions facilities are closed on Thursday, which means libraries, museums and galleries, leisure centres and recycling centres are all shut.
Fife Council has also stressed that non-essential appointments and visits are likely to be cancelled and the council’s contact centre is operating an emergency service only, including the community alarm service.
However, meals on wheels managed to reach all clients on Wednesday and will endeavour to do the same today.
Bin collections were stopped on Wednesday afternoon, but the council has said it will try to empty the bins of those residents who normally get their bins uplifted on Thursday where possible.
According to the Met Office, a red warning means there is “danger to life” and likely to be long delays and cancellations on bus, rail and air travel; roads being blocked by deep snow; communities being cut off for several days; and long interruptions to power supplies and other services such as telephone and mobile phone networks.
Fifedirect text/email alerts will be sent as schools re-open and people can check the status of facilities at www.fifedirect.org.uk/closures.