IN response to the declaration of an Amber weather warning of snow from the Met Office this morning, Scottish Borders Council is advising Borderers to brace themselves for the inclement weather.

The Amber warning is expected to be in place between 2pm and 9pm today (Tuesday, February 11).

A spokesperson from the council told us: "As a result of the information we have from the Met Office in terms of the likelihood of prolonged snow showers from 2pm in the western areas of the Borders - the decision has been for school transport to leave all primary and secondary schools in the Galashiels, Hawick, Selkirk and Peebles catchment areas from 2pm today. Pupils who do not use school transport can remain at school until the normal time.

"Parents can collect pupils from these schools earlier if they wish to do so.

"All other schools out-with these catchment areas will operate as normal."

The council's Emergency Planning bunker at its Newtown St Boswells HQ is open, providing an ongoing, multi-agency response to the weather warning.

The local authority has reiterated warnings from the Met Office that travel disruption, delays and effects on power supply and mobile signal are to be expected.

Tracey Logan, SBC’s Chief Executive added: “We are continuing to respond to a very challenging severe weather period which started from late on Saturday evening.

“We are urging all residents to take extreme care when out and about.

“This Amber warning means we are expecting heavy snow showers, combined with ongoing high winds and very cold, icy conditions.”