Some of the busiest roads in Tayside were forced to close on Wednesday as heavy snowfall and strong winds brought chaos to rural areas.
Winter weather returned to Scotland on Wednesday morning, forcing the complete closure of the A9 Perth to Inverness road in the Slochd region until about 8am.
The A93 Perth to Braemar road was shut north of Blairgowrie to the Spittal of Glenshee after blizzard-like conditions hit the area.
The B974 Fettercairn to Strachan, or Cairn O’ Mount, road was also closed from Wednesday morning until about 2pm.
And the strong winds brought down a large tree on the A85 Perth to Comrie road near Crieff at about 6.25am, forcing it to shut for some eight-and-a-half hours.
BEAR Scotland was called in to assist police in clearing the busy route, which was left blocked in both directions.
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A spokeswoman for the roads maintenance firm said: “We were notified of the fallen tree at 6.25am and attended the site soon after to assist the police with clearing the tree from the road.
“Due to the size of the tree, the clearance took some time and was completed around 3pm.”
A police spokesman said: “Police Scotland attended a two-vehicle non-injury road traffic collision on the B966 near Brechin about 4.45am this morning.
“The road was also blocked by a fallen tree which has now been cleared.”
The road was reopened at about 8am.
Forecasters said the lowest temperature recorded in Scotland from Tuesday night into Wednesday morning was -3C in Dalwhinnie – adding that the mercury did not rise above single figures in the country on Wednesday.
And meteorologist Sarah Kent said snow and hail would continue to fall on the highest ground in Courier country overnight into Thursday morning – though lower levels will see rain and sleet.
She added: “Low pressure has been in charge of the weather on Tuesday and Wednesday, and that is continuing to influence the weather over the next couple of days.
“Going through Wednesday evening we are looking at that showery conditions continuing. Showers could be heavy, we’ll maybe see hail and sleet at low levels, and – over mountains – snow flurries. It will be wet snow.
“It will be quite breezy on Thursday morning. There will be more showers, they could be heavy, again they will be falling again as snow in the mountains.
“The wind will be strongest along the coast – 15mph-20mph. The showers themselves will be much more isolated.
“Evening should be dry across all of the regions with a maximum temperature tomorrow of 9C.”
