Scots are bracing for a chilly Easter break as the threat of snow looms on Easter Monday for much of the country, extending a previously more modest forecast.

Sleet fell in Edinburgh today, with temperatures in the capital expected to hit sub-zero levels over Easter Sunday.

A ‘yellow’ weather warning, initially issued for the Strathclyde region, as well as Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders, has now been extended to include Grampian, Tayside & Fife, and the Highlands.

This could mean disruption to travel, with heavy traffic already possible on Easter Monday.

Vehicles drive through snow in Glasgow during poor weather conditions last month

Heavy snow is possible for southern Scotland on the final day of the four-day long weekend, with potential for up to 10cm of snow.

The warning is in place from 3am to 11:45pm on Monday.

A Met Office statement said: “As a weather system moves in from the south and comes up against cold air over the UK, rain will turn to heavy snow in places. Several cm of snow are possible, mainly over ground above around 200 m, with drifting in strong winds.

“The greatest risk of medium impacts is across the northern Pennines and Scottish Borders where there is a chance of around 10 cm of snow accumulating. There is also the possibility of a few cm of wet snow gathering locally at lower levels.

“The snow is likely to be affecting southern parts of the warning area in the early hours of Monday before reaching Scotland later in the morning. Snow is likely to gradually turn to rain across the southern Pennines later on Monday.

“At present there is still some uncertainty in exact snow amounts, and how quickly snow will turn back to rain again in the south of the warning area.”

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The Easter weekend is expected to be one of the busiest in years for travellers, with millions of Britons heading abroad as snow is forecast in parts of the country.

The Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) has estimated 2.1 million British holidaymakers will jet out of the country for the Easter bank holiday weekend.

Ports, train stations, roads and airports in the UK are also expected to be extremely busy.

For those who are travelling across Britain, warnings have been issued that there will be major disruption on train services and heavy traffic on the roads, with the AA saying: “This bank holiday weekend is likely to be one of the busiest on the roads in recent years.”

Easter Monday snow warning for much of Scotland