Overnight snow made journeys difficult this morning, with disruptions on many routes across the country.

Glasgow saw around an inch of snow, with outlying areas facing more severe conditions.

In East Kilbride up to six inches of snow fell in places.

Eskdalemuir, in Dumfriesshire saw the highest snowfall with nearly 4.5ins overnight.

Drivers had to battle into work with key routes affected by snow and jack-knifed lorries.

Transport Scotland said a fleet of 130 gritters and winter patrols were out throughout the night to treat roads and 3000 tonnes of salt were used.

Gritters were out overnight on key routes, but many roads had to be regritted this morning after early rain showers.

Sections of the M8 and M77 were down to one lane in places, and there were lengthy delays on the M74 near Lesmahagow after a lorry jack-knifed, stranding some drivers for around two hours. The accident also affected school pick up times, with Lesmahagow High School not due to open until 10am today.

A diversion was in operation on the B7078 which runs parallel to the M74 but it was adding considerable time to journeys. All lanes were reopened by 7.45am, however it took some time before traffic returned to normal.

In South Lanarkshire Quarter and Underbank Primary School are both closed today.

Drivers also had to negotiate difficult conditions around junction 5 of the M77 at Newton Mearns.

Motorists have been warned to take care on journeys with more snow showers forecast during the day.

Temperatures were hovering around freezing in Glasgow and were expected to reach around 5°C today.

The M8 was partially blocked with slow traffic westbound between junction 4 Whitburn and junction 5 Shotts because of snow.

Drivers were also being warned to take extra care on the approach to the Erskine Bridge.

There were also hazardous driving conditions on M80 between junction 5 M876 and junction 1 of the M8 at Provan.

Bus operators First said they were experiencing delays with a number of routes heading into Glasgow this morning. A number of services were being diverted due to weather conditions and travellers were being urged to check their website.

Some early morning rail services were affected by signalling problems.

Services between Cumbernauld and Motherwell have been suspended with buses due to be in place by 8am.

Meanwhile, in northern England, a lorry driver died after his vehicle left the road in severe wintry conditions.

Humberside Police said the lorry, which was fully loaded with meat, left the westbound carriageway of the road in South Killingholme at about 4.14am.

This time last year snow and ice brought the country to a standstill with drivers trapped in their cars and the M8 shut for days.

However, roads body Transport Scotland has already activated a full Multi-Agency Response Team (MART) involving all of its transport partners including rail, road and Strathclyde Police.

Scotland's Transport Minister Keith Brown was in the control centre over night and will be there again today.

He said: "We've already seen some wintry weather across much of Scotland and, while it is not as severe as this time last year, we cannot afford to be complacent."

Forecasters said sleet and snow showers are likely to last today and tomorrow.

Chris Burton, a forecaster with MeteoGroup, said: "We will see more wintry showers with more snow over high ground. There will be a combination of sleet, snow and hail today and a similar picture for tomorrow.

"Temperatures today in Glasgow will remain around 5°C. It will turn milder in the next few days."

deborah.anderson@ eveningtimes.co.uk