Trains between the west Highlands and the central belt stopped running this evening after fears about predicted high winds.
ScotRail cancelled services on the West Coast Main Line at 6pm for 24 hours.
It means there are no services between Glasgow and Oban, Fort William and Mallaig, or between Dingwall and Kyle until further notice.
The Met Office has issued a yellow “be aware” wind warning for the west coast, predicting gusts of up to 80mph.
And now there is speculation that temperatures will plunge at the weekend, possibly reaching minus temperatures in double figures.
A Met Office spokesman confirmed that temperatures would drop from Sunday.
Yesterday the problem was snow, with around 13ins falling overnight at Tulloch Bridge in Lochaber and Aviemore.
A total of 96 schools stayed closed, while another two opened late. Some 8,600 pupils were affected.
In Shetland, more than 700 households were without power yesterday morning because the network was struck by lightning.
And schools in Dunrossness, Sandwick, Cunningsburgh, Ollaberry and Fetlar closed.
The heavy snow also caused a spate of accidents on Highland roads.
A Shetland Islands Council gritter crashed off the A970 at the Lang Kames, south of Voe at 10.30am.
The vehicle left the road and rolled down an embankment. The driver and his mate escaped with minor injuries.
Road conditions at the time were slushy and wet. The cause of the accident is unknown at present but an internal investigation will be carried out.
The gritter will be recovered from the roadside in the next few days, when weather conditions allow.
Meanwhile a bus driver was taken to the Belford Hospital in Fort William after suffering a leg injury when his vehicle and a car collided.
Three fire crews were sent to the scene on the A82 Fort William-Inverness road, one mile south of Invergarry, after reports that the driver of the car was trapped.
However the man was out of the vehicle by the time the firefighters arrived.
The A9 Inverness-Perth road was blocked yesterday afternoon by two road accidents south of Drumochter and lengthy queues built up.
And in the morning queues of more than four miles built up on the A9 in both directions at Blair Atholl after an accident.
In Wester Ross the Bealach Na Ba road remained closed, as was the B9007 in Badenoch and Strathspey. In the Nairn area both the A939 and B9007 have been closed due to drifting snow.
