Forecasters warn of heavy snow for the north and north east

Power company Scottish Hydro Electric has warned of possible widespread damage to the electricity network.

Four walkers who were stranded overnight in freezing conditions in the Cairngorms have been found.

They had contacted police by mobile phone on Thursday morning from a tent on the Ben Macdui plateau.

An RAF rescue helicopter which tried to locate the four men had to turn back because of high winds and driving snow.

The men, who were in their thirties and were thought to be from the Dundee area, sheltered in bivvy bags.

The predicted snowfall has already arrived in Inverness, Aviemore, Caithness and Ross and Cromarty in the north of Scotland. It was expected to sweep south across much of the country over the next two days.

Met Office forecaster Peter Sloss told BBC Scotland that there would be severe weather in places but many areas of the country would see no snow at all.

Strategic points

He said: "There will be snow showers and this arctic blast coming down across Scotland.

"The north of Scotland will get the worst of it. That tends to happen in the northerly.

"The mountains, the Grampians and the Highlands protect the central belt, so a lot of the population will not actually see snow."

Scottish Hydro Electric said extra engineers have been drafted in and moved to strategic points throughout Scotland, including the Western Isles, with helicopters also on standby to ferry them to areas where they are needed.

A Highland Council spokesman said there had been no school closures yet, but that headteachers were continuing to monitor the situation. Highland Council has 230 staff ready to operate snow ploughs and gritters.

In the north east, Aberdeenshire Council has contracted 100 farmers to help clear any snowfall, in addition to its 50 gritters and 60 snow ploughs.

Send your pictures of the winter chill to newsonlinescotland@bbc.co.uk.