Snow ends early hope of summer

Britain's early summer was brought to an abrupt halt, as snow blanketed parts of the country.

Scotland was the worst affected, with snow falling in the Highlands, and dusting central parts of the country.

As an Arctic weather front bore down on the UK, the Met Office issued severe weather warnings for all of Scotland, as well as parts of northern England, Yorkshire and Humber, and the East Midlands.

A major rescue operation was launched earlier after a group of hillwalkers became stuck in the Cairngorms.

The walkers were later airlifted off the hillside and taken to the Braemar area by the Navy helicopter.

There were a number of minor collisions and reports of cars sliding off the road in Tayside and Fife where some vehicles also became stuck in the snow in the Largoward and St Monans area.

The wintry blast comes just a week after record-breaking warm temperatures in north-eastern Scotland.

Last Tuesday temperatures rose to 23.6C in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, marking a new high in Scotland for the month.

Around four inches (10cm) of snow has carpeted most parts of northern Scotland overnight, with accumulations of 7.5 inches (17cm) recorded in Aviemore in the Highlands and temperatures of minus 2.7C in Glen Ogle.

Scotland's central belt was also hit by the wintry weather, which will gradually creep into northern England, parts of Wales and the Midlands in the coming 24 hours.