Passengers are being asked to check the status of their flights before they travel to Edinburgh airport.

British Airways and EasyJet have confirmed their operations from the capital's airport have been cancelled until lunchtime tomorrow.

Flybe and BA have also cancelled inbound and outbound flights from Aberdeen airport until further notice due to the adverse weather.

Virgin Trains says the route between Carlisle and Scotland is likely to remain closed until at least lunchtime on Thursday.

There are no replacement buses running and alternative rail routes between England and Scotland are also severely disrupted.

Virgin said customers who wish to postpone their journeys will be able to use tickets booked for Wednesday or Thursday, on Friday or Saturday instead.

If they want to cancel their journeys, refunds will be issued.

Stein Connolly, Transport Scotland, told BBC Radio Scotland's Newsdrive programme that there were a couple of places on the M80 and the M8 where vehicles were getting stuck.

He said HGVs were finding it hard to get traction even on small hills, and with heavy snow falling gritters were finding it hard to get through.

"We've got all our equipment out there - our ploughs and our gritters - and we're trying to make sure we can get these clear," he added.

"We're working with Police Scotland to try to get these people clear as soon as we can. The last thing we want is people to be stuck in traffic at this time of the day."

Image source, PA

He said it was proving "very, very difficult" for gritters to keep on top of the situation.

""What we're seeing is blizzard condition, ploughs are going by and the roads are turning white behind them."

With more heavy snow forecast overnight, he urged people to consider whether they really need to make their journeys.

Stirling Council is the latest local authority to announce the closure of all of its schools on Thursday. This is how the list stands now:

• City of Edinburgh
• West Lothian
• North Ayrshire
• Midlothian
• Renfrewshire
• North Lanarkshire
• South Lanarkshire
• Falkirk
• Clackmannanshire
• Scottish Borders
• Glasgow
• West Dunbartonshire
• East Ayrshire
• Fife
• East Renfrewshire
• East Lothian
• South Ayrshire
• Stirling

ScotRail are not running train services in the RED weather warning area tonight, or first thing tomorrow morning.

Managing director Alex Hynes said: "Depending on what happens this afternoon with the close down, we'll be in a better position to advise customers about what to do tomorrow.

"So we advise customers to stay in touch with us, particularly our social media channels.

"We invest millions of pounds making Scotland's railway resilient to weather conditions. But this red weather alert is the first for 30 years and we need to take that really seriously."

The blustery wind and drifting snow have caused major problems on rural roads in the north-east, with visibility in some stretches down to just a metre.

Insp Neil Morrison, of Police Scotland's roads policing department, told BBC Radio Scotland: "You can start your journey in one place in the north-east and it can be reasonably ok for your journey, but very, very quickly, due to the winds and drifting snow, visibility can deteriorate to next to nothing."

The council has confirmed that all schools and early years centres in South Ayrshire will be closed on Thursday, due to the forecast of worsening weather.

In a tweet, external, it said it had been experiencing problems trying to text the information to parents and carers.

Dumfries and Galloway correspondent Willie Johnston has been out on the region's roads, assessing the impact of the wintry conditions.

Strathclyde University confirms that, like today, its campuses will be closed tomorrow.

• A939 closed from Col-na-baichin to Tomintoul
• Whiteout on the A975 Peterhead to Cruden Bay, and the A90 Fraserburgh - Peterhead road is closed with several broken down vehicles along this stretch.
• The A952 Toll of Birness to Mintlaw road is closed. A93 closed between Braemar and Spittal of Glenshee. A90 Toll of Birness closed Fraserburgh Turnoff Invernettie Roundabout, Peterhead
• Tay Road Bridge closed to double deckers. Forth Road Bridge is closed - so buses diverting onto the Queensferry Crossing
• TheA907 Oakley - Dunfermline road closed.
• Queensferry Crossing Southbound - a van in the outside lane is sitting sideways plus two lorries stuck at the small incline to the bridge - traffic is very slow. Travel time from Rosyth turn off to the foot of the crossing is 30mins.
• Edinburgh Hermiston Gait at a standstill getting on to the by-pass is very very slow as well. Hermiston Gait - Newhouse is very very slow. A198 in both directions closed, hazardous driving conditions due to snow between A199 (East Linton Turnoff) and Limetree Walk.
• Edinburgh City Centre to Kirkbrae is taking around 50mins just now.
• M80 Stirling - Glasgow down to one lane in parts with very poor visibility. The Northbound entry slip road partially blocked due to broken down lorry at J7 Kilsyth Road. Problems both directions at Castlecarey due to lorries stuck. Standstill north bound at Old Inns
• M8/M73 /M74/M77 Glasgow all open but the snow is coming down again - blizzard conditions in parts and very poor visibility.
• M8 White Cart Viaduct - one lane blocked between Arkleston and Airport because of an accident. M8 Eastbound Anderston Cross - Charling Cross - a few lorries stuck in the snow - the queue is all the way back beyond Glasgow Airport.
• M8 East at Provan - Broken down lorry adding to the headache there.
• Dumfries and Galloway - police say Cars now struggling to get past the long wood between Beeswing and Dalbeattie and advise against travelling on the A711.
• A1 re-opened between South Charlton and Alnwich but very very slow.
• The Borders: the A68 particularly bad - between Soutra and Carter Bar.B6364 Greenlaw to Kelso road closed, The A1 treacherous conditions at Granthouse. And the A1 is clsoed in both directions in Northumberland at South Charlton.
• Glasgow Airport no further flights at all. Edinburgh airport expecting disrutpion later this afternoon....passengers check with airline. All FlyBe and Logan Air flights have been cancelled.
• Stagecoach East Scotland are withdrawing all services heading west of Dunfermline. If you are in Glasgow going to Fife on the bus, they say get to the bus station as soon as possible.
• First Bus are stopping ALL Services in the Greater Glasgow area before 4pm.
• No trains in the red alert this afternoon.

A total of 17 schools in Angus did not open on Wednesday and they will remain closed on Thursday, the council has confirmed.

They are: Aberlemno, Airlie, Arbirlot, Birkhill, Carmyllie, Eassie, Inverarity, Isla, Letham, Mattocks, Monikie, Murroes, Newbigging, Newtyle, Strathmartine, Tannadice and Tealing primary schools.

There will be no school transport operating in the region.

The council said it would continue to monitor the weather situation with regard to the remaining 34 primary and eight secondary schools.

East Ayrshire is the latest council to confirm that its schools will be closed for second day.

Glasgow Airport says it will give an update later on whether tomorrow's flights will take off. It urged anyone booked to travel to "contact their airline directly for specific flight information".

It warned in its messages to the public that more heavy snow was forecast.