An amber warning REMAINS across much of Scotland throughout the day and in to tomorrow morning.

Remember the advice here is, please don't travel unless it is totally necessary.

Currently we have closures on the M73 - GLASGOW closed northbound - there are hazardous driving conditions at J2 (Baillieston).

The M80 is closed in both directions between Junction 4a Low Wood and Junction 9 Bannockburn.

This is due to vehicles losing traction in severe weather conditions.

Police are holding traffic but gritters are on their 4th run as as soon as they clear the road, the snow is coming back down.

A68 south of Jedburgh is closed. Carter Bar is under a few foot of snow.

Stein Connelly, of Transport Scotland, urged drivers to heed police warnings.

He told BBC Radio Scotland’s John Beattie Programme: “Avoid travel.

“That is the message that is still going out just now.

“If you do go out then there is a high risk, a high chance, that you will become stranded.”

Stein said progress is being made in removing the backlog of vehicles on the M80.

He said: “We are clearing them just now.

“We have got them going and we are working our way through them.

“Hopefully that will be clear soon.

“We are making inroads into that.”

Glasgow Airport has released pictures of what the airport looked like at around 2am this morning.

On BBC Breakfast, we heard from friends Leanne McKillop and Yvonne Davies who spent the night at the airport following the severe winter weather.

They said they had nothing to eat and nothing to sleep on. The pair estimated that there were 500 people stranded there overnight.

Image source, Glasgow Airport

Image source, Glasgow Airport

Image source, Glasgow Airport

Image source, Glasgow Airport

Image source, Glasgow Airport

Image source, EPA

Chief Supt Stewart Carle, head of road policing, told BBC Radio Scotland’s John Beattie Programme “crazy” motorists were only making a difficult situation worse.

He said: “It is not helping that people are moving our closed signs and cones - we don’t have police officers at every closure - and then venturing onto the road.

“It’s just daft behaviour.

“They know we are facing these challenges for them to then try and venture onto a closed road is just crazy.”

Chief Supt Carle also said HGV drivers stuck in the outside lane caused a lot of problems.

He added: “If they had moved over to lane one and left lane two free for cars we wouldn’t have faced quite the same number of difficulties.”

Chief Supt Carle said he spoke to dozens of HGV drivers on Wednesday night on the M80.

He added: “A lot of them told me that their employers made it quite clear they had to make the journeys despite the weather warnings.”

The senior officer said both the M80 and the M876 remain closed to the public.

Strathclyde University will remain closed tomorrow. It is the third day in a row advice has been given to staff and students not to venture in for lectures. Other Scottish universities, including Glasgow and the West of Scotland, did not open on Wednesday and Thursday.

Schools in Stirling, Falkirk and Clackmannanshire will remain closed on Friday, the regions' local authorities have confirmed.

The SPFL have postponed a number of football matches scheduled for the weekend, including the Premiership clash between St Johnstone and Hamilton Accies.

The other games off are Dundee United v St Mirren; Dunfermline v Livingston; Airdrieonians v Stranraer; Albion Rovers v Queens Park; Berwick Rangers v Stirling Albion; Clyde v Elgin City; Edinburgh City v Cowdenbeath; Peterhead v Stenhousemuir.

Image source, Google

Cairngorm Mountain has posted on Facebook that the access roads are getting "quite tasty" so its Team are leaving the hill.

It said: "We managed to get out and about the hill, to sample some of the 50 - 100 cm powder that is around in some places. Conditions are vastly improved across the hill from the very hard snow of late."Tomorrow's forecast is pretty similar to today, with heavy snow and strong winds at base station level, which will affect our access roads.

"If the conditions on the road are the same, it is very unlikely we will be able to open for snowsports.

"We will update around 7.00 am tomorrow."

Virgin Trains is not running services on the West Coast main line and is advising passengers not to travel on the East Coast today or tomorrow.

A spokesman said: “Due to extreme weather conditions on our east coast route, we are advising customers not to travel today or tomorrow.

"We’re working hard to look after our customers in whatever way we can and customers who have booked to travel will be able to use their tickets next week.

"On our west coast route, we do not expect to run services between Carlisle and Scotland for the rest of today.

"Customers who have booked to travel to or from Edinburgh or Glasgow can travel on any Scotland services until Sunday 4th March.

"Customers travelling across both our east coast and west coast routes are advised to check our websites for the most up to date information before going to the station.”

The HGV drivers that got stuck on the M80 north of Glasgow have come in for criticism.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said there were too many HGVs on the motorway during a red weather warning and they should only be travelling if their journey was unavoidable.

Martin Reid, director of the Road Haulage Association, defended them, saying they play a vital role.

He said: "Because of their size they are an easy target, I guess.

"I'm not trying to exonerate every HGV that is out there because I am sure there are many cases where a different approach could have worked.

"But at the end of the day these guys are paid to go from point A to point B and in many cases they are given a slot they have to adhere to or else there are penalty clauses and fines that go back to the company.

"At the end of the day the economy revolves around the HGVs and they are trying in most cases to deliver essential items."

Glasgow Airport say that the continuing bad weather means there will be no flights on Thursday - making it the third day of flights disruption.

Rory spoke to BBC Radio Scotland’s John Beattie programme from a Megabus which was stranded on the M80 overnight.

He travelled to Peterhead for a football match and left Aberdeen at 14:30 on Wednesday.

The driver and 12 passengers sensed conditions might hamper their journey when they reached Perth.

A short time later the bus ground to a halt.

Rory said: “We are doing all we can.

“It’s absolutely freezing.

“I think we have shared about four bags of prawn cocktail crisps.

“We are all clubbing together and trying to do what we can.”

Image source, BBc

He also painted a grim picture when asked about the toilet situation.

Rory said: “I have been trying to hold it in, to be fair, but there is boy saying he had diarrhoea.

“I think he has been using the toilet but it is difficult to flush.

“A lot of folk are having to do it outside.”

The passengers struggled to sleep but are working as a team.

Rory added: “We have prawn cocktail crisps and it is like back in the war times.

“We have been rationing the chocolate bars.”

Good Samaritans have also been on hand to help.

Rory said: “To be fair there is guys out there in the freezing cold giving us all they can.

“A Fruit Shoot here and there.

“Fair play to them, they did not need to come in.”

Another man was also on hand with a stove to help the stranded.

Rory said: “To make hot tea he was chucking the snow in and boiling it.

“I think he must have done hundreds of cups.”

BBC Scotland Weather