ALL COUNCIL-RUN schools nurseries and specialist education provision will be closed for a second day tomorrow (Thursday).

The council has taken the decision with a red 'take action' weather warning - the most serious possible - having been issued by the Met Office for between 3pm today (Wednesday) and 10am tomorrow.

The red warning - the first ever issued in East Lothian, and the first red warning for snow ever issued in Scotland - means that risk to life is 'likely'.

East Lothian Courier:

ScotRail has announced that all services in the 'red' weather warning zone - including East Lothian - have been shut down until at least late morning tomorrow.

People are being advised not to travel unless absolutely necessary while the warning is at amber, and during the hours of the red warning no  travel is advised.

Many cars are stuck on the A720 City of Edinburgh Bypass, which has suffered badly from the snowfall, with drivers told to avoid the road. Cars currently on the eastbound carriageway are expected to be stuck for four to five hours.

Prentice Coaches, based in Haddington, have announced their services will end for the day at 2pm. 

All Borders Buses serving East Lothian were cancelled early this morning.

East Coast Buses gave the following service update this evening:

All enjoyleisure facilities closed at 2.30pm today (Wednesday) and re-open at 10.30am tomorrow, while all council libraries closed at 2pm. 

Loretto School in Musselburgh was open, but classes finished at 2pm, while The Compass School was shut all day (see tweet below). 

Due to the adverse weather conditions and the forecast for further severe weather today across East Lothian, in the interests of safety and in accordance with advice from Police Scotland, the School will be closed today, Wednesday 28 February.

Queen Margaret University in Musselburgh has also announced its campus is shut tomorrow.

The local authority has also confirmed that the B6355 and C133 rural roads from Gifford to Whiteadder and the Scottish Borders are closed due to drifting snow.

As it stands, all other roads in East Lothian remain passable with extreme care and gritting operations continue on priority routes.

A statement on East Lothian Council's website said: "The gritters are treating priority routes first, then continuing through to secondary routes, but streets within housing areas may remain untreated for a while.

"All schools are closed. Some refuse collections may not be made today in outlying areas but householders are advised to put their bins out and they will be uplifted where possible.

"Our Recycling Centre on Spott Road, Dunbar, has closed and the other Recycling Centres at Kinwegar, Macmerry and North Berwick will close today at 2pm. This decision is in the health and safety interests of users and staff."

Humza Yousaf MSP, Scotland's transport minister, has also urged people not to travel.

The red warning is in place because of the heavy snow and bitterly cold temperatures as the 'Beast from the East' arrives from Siberia.

Police have advised everybody not to travel on the roads at all today.

The Met Office says that long delays and cancellations on bus, rail and air travel could occur.

Roads may become blocked by deep snow, with many stranded vehicles and passengers.

It adds that some rural communities might be cut off for several days.

Racing had been scheduled at Musselburgh Racecourse today (Wednesday) but was postponed yesterday morning. 

And the tweet below shows the racecourse under snow. . .

Boxing organisers have also been forced to cancel a public workout due to take place in Glasgow this afternoon ahead of Josh Taylor's title defence against Winston Campos at the SSE Hydro on Saturday.

Meanwhile, there could also be long interruptions to power supplies and other services such as telephone and mobile phone networks . 

Strong winds could also lead to snow drifting in places.

The winds will also drop the already sub-zero temperatures even further - temperatures are not expected to rise above -2C all day but with windchill could feel as cold as -10C.