East Lothian will continue to be beset by snow and ice on Tuesday – with the potential for the country to experience the coldest night of the year for a second day running.

The Met Office has issued a yellow snow and ice warning covering northern Scotland and north-east England from midnight on Tuesday until noon on Thursday.

In the county, Tranent, Prestonpans, Musselburgh and Haddington could see mercury drop to -5C with other towns and villages all expected to experience minus temperatures.

Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon said there will be heavy snow in some places again on Tuesday.

“Coming into force at midnight tonight all the way through to lunchtime on Thursday, (there is a) large snow and ice warning covering the North East of England, the whole sort of northern portion of Scotland, as well as the Highlands and islands,” he said.

He said there could be “as much as 15 to 20 centimetres of snow accumulating over high ground”.

East Lothian Courier: Weather warnings for snow and ice. Weather warnings for snow and ice. (Image: PA)

Mr Claydon said northern Scotland could record even colder temperatures on Tuesday after breaking the record for the coldest night of the year on Monday.

“In terms of temperature, we could see another very cold night, especially in parts of Scotland where we’ve got that lying snow,” he said.

“We saw minus 15C last night. We could see similar or potentially even colder tonight under clear skies with that snowfall lying in some places.

“So a very cold night there but also broadly very cold across the whole of the UK, with widespread freezing conditions.”

Mr Claydon urged commuters across the UK to “leave a little bit more time” if driving and to travel with “a bit of extra caution”.

It comes after commuters faced travel chaos on Monday morning as large parts of the UK were hit by ice, fog and snow.

Rod Dennis from the RAC said their teams were “exceptionally busy” on Monday, helping more than 7,500 motorists with breakdowns. He added that this was 50% more than what they would see on a typical Monday in December.

It was the coldest night of the year so far, with temperatures in northern Scotland dipping below minus 15C.

The Met Office said the lowest temperature recorded was minus 15.6C at Braemer in Aberdeenshire, with the five next coldest temperatures all recorded in Scotland, including minus 13.1 at Balmoral.