Skiers and snowboarders could be in for an early Christmas present with two north-east snow centres expected to open to the public this weekend.
Glenshee’s managing director, Graham McCabe, said the Aberdeenshire resort had “good, dry winter snow” falling on the slopes yesterday.
The Lecht Ski Centre also had “powdery” snow, with more forecast for both resorts overnight.
Mr McCabe said: “It has been a wild couple of days on the roads. It’s snowing heavy and filling in.
“There is not quite enough snow yet, but we are quite hopeful of opening up on Saturday.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to get the roads opened up for the weekend.”
“This is about ideal for us. If you would have asked when we wanted it to open, we would have said the week before Christmas.
“It is very nice snow, good dry winter snow, the skiing will be good.”
Lecht spokeswoman, Pat Matheson, said the team there were also optimistic about the chances of opening on Saturday following heavy showers at the resort.
Ms Matheson said: “It is looking a lot better today than at the beginning of the week, we hope to open at the weekend.
“It’s still snowing, really powdery stuff, here. We quite often open round about this time of year.”
As winds reached about 40mph at the Lecht, drifing snow resulted in the closure of the A939 Cock Bridge to Tomintoul road around the resort.
The A93 Braemar to Blairgowrie road has also been closed around Glenshee Ski Centre.
The weather is forecast to improve towards the weekend, with Friday clear overnight and Saturday in line to be cloudy.