With temperatures expected to plunge in the next few days and Scotland’s ski slopes filling up with snow, we look back on one of the toughest winters in living memory.
Exactly seven years ago Tayside and Fife was entering into one of the most gruelling and severe winters in recent memory.
When the snow started falling in late November 2010 it immediately brought chaos to roads, forced the closure of schools across Dundee, Perth and Kinross, Fife and Angus and cancelled a string of local events.
A phenomenon known as “thunder snow” battered Tayside on November 28 of the year; bringing storms and between 8in and 10in of the white stuff to the likes of Dundee and Perth.
Roads were blocked by trapped cars and jack-knifed lorries with electricity also cut off to homes.
By November 30 residents across Courier Country were being told to “stay home, stay safe and stay warm” as 3,600 were left without power to their homes.
NHS Tayside quickly moved to an emergency service, cancelling all non-urgent surgeries and outpatient clinics; forcing the health board to reschedule 8,000 appointments in total.
Many were left unable to travel to work due to snow and ice, with councils including Perth and Kinross even calling off bin collections as staff focused on snow-clearing and gritting efforts.
Before December had even arrived, the AA said it had been called to some 20,000 breakdowns across the UK.
The road conditions were so bad that on December 1, a man in his 60s had to be airlifted to Ninewells Hospital in a Royal Navy helicopter for treatment after slipping and injuring his hip in Crieff.
As December neared the snow persisted and travel chaos became a daily occurrence with trains and buses regularly called off due to the Arctic conditions. The weather also affected flights across the UK, including those to and from Dundee Airport.
Mail was affected, football matches called off, burials were made impossible and deliveries of fuel caused anxiety and panic buying. Some local brides even had to delay their weddings.
Elsewhere farmers suffered as farm buildings collapsed under the sheer amount of snowfall on roofs, while wildlife also suffered as animals fought for survival in the freezing conditions.
As the winter weather dragged on through December, some schools were closed for as long as a week at a time and the Tay Road Bridge was closed to traffic on more than one occasion.
However there was also stories of community spirit with locals in the likes of Perth and Dundee offering shelter to travellers left stranded due to chaos on the roads.
Good samaritans also came to the aid of the elderly and vulnerable by going on shopping trips for neighbours and clearing pathways, with pages set up on social media as locals pulled together.
Problems with snow and ice endured until late January.
The UK experienced the coldest December since records began in 2010.
The lowest temperature of the winter season was recorded at -21.3C at Altnaharra in the Highlands on January 8, 2011.
