The freezing weather conditions are set to stay in West Lothian until the weekend.
A Met Office weather warning is in place for today (January 7) with sub-zero temperatures expected to continue until milder conditions move in at the weekend.
The yellow warning for snow and ice started yesterday at 3:00pm and lasts until 11:59pm tonight.
The Met Office warn under these conditions residents in West Lothian should expect that “roads and railways are likely to be affected with longer journey times by road, bus and train services.”
And also to expect “some injuries from slips and falls on icy surfaces and probably some icy patches on untreated roads, pavements and cycle paths.”
The Met forecast for today says: “One to two centimetre of snow is likely to settle at low levels quite widely, with three-six cm above 200 metres and up to 10 cm above 300 metres.
“Rain is more likely around some coasts, and snow may also turn to rain at low levels inland before clearing to leave a risk of ice on untreated surfaces on Thursday morning.
“Following the clearance of the rain, sleet and snow on Thursday morning, much of inland Scotland will be dry for most of the day.
“However, snow showers will then follow into northern Scotland on Thursday, especially during the afternoon and evening.
“A further two-five cm is likely at low levels with around 10 cm accumulating above 200 metres.”
No snow is expected on Friday and no weather warnings are in place as of yet but the conditions will remain dangerous as sub-zero temperatures continue.
This will continue on into Saturday morning before the temperatures are finally predicted to rise.
The Met say that conditions from Saturday to Tuesday will be milder, with cloud and light rain expected, as the thaw out begins.
However, residents in West Lothian are warned that the icy conditions may linger under foot until early next week.
The current conditions are known as a “sudden stratospheric warming” and occur in long periods of dry and cold weather.
This phenomenon was also responsible for the snow and ice spells in the winters of 2010 and 2018.
West Lothian Council say they are working hard to make the roads and streets safer for residents until the weather improves.
A spokesperson said: “Over 100 operatives have been involved in delivering Winter Services yesterday and today (Wednesday 6 January), which has allowed us to treat secondary routes as well, which means 70 per cent of the roads have now been treated.
“With freezing rain and snow forecast for West Lothian tonight, we will need to return to treating the primary routes this afternoon then again overnight.
“We understand it can be frustrating for those on residential routes that we have been unable to reach so far, but snow and icy conditions mean we need to return to the primary routes to ensure they remain safe.
“We do not have the resources to treat all 1,000km and 1,400km of footpaths at once, so like every local authority in Scotland we have adopted a priority system to ensure key roads are accessible.
“Footway treatments have taken place every day from 5am since Sunday December 27.
“As with the carriageways, the primary footway routes have taken priority, although recent conditions have allowed some progress to be made into residential areas.
“The weather forecast means they will need to return to primary footways tomorrow morning.
“Please note that these small vehicles can only carry a limited supply of salt, so if you see a footway gritter driving without spreading it is likely that they are heading to reload.
“Operatives have been redeployed from other service areas from Tuesday 5 January to help refill grit bins and this will continue for the next few days and into weekend.”
