Ben Lowry: A rare snowy and sunny glorious wintry day in Ulster

By The Newsroom
Published 11th Mar 2023, 23:59 BST
Updated 12th Mar 2023, 00:00 BST
People enjoy the snow at Stormont estate in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Picture date: Friday March 10, 2023. PA Photo. The Met Office has issued three amber warnings for northern England, the Midlands, North Wales and Northern Ireland, where "significant disruption" to transport and power supplies is expected. Photo credit should read: David Young/PA WirePeople enjoy the snow at Stormont estate in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Picture date: Friday March 10, 2023. PA Photo. The Met Office has issued three amber warnings for northern England, the Midlands, North Wales and Northern Ireland, where "significant disruption" to transport and power supplies is expected. Photo credit should read: David Young/PA Wire
People enjoy the snow at Stormont estate in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Picture date: Friday March 10, 2023. PA Photo. The Met Office has issued three amber warnings for northern England, the Midlands, North Wales and Northern Ireland, where "significant disruption" to transport and power supplies is expected. Photo credit should read: David Young/PA Wire
Only every few years we get a wintry day like yesterday in NI.​

​Not only was there a heavy snowfall in much of the province that most lay for almost 24 hours, it was beautifully sunny too. It is rare indeed for there to be such ski resort style conditions.

A common perception of Northern Ireland is that we have the worst weather in these islands, which in turn have some of the most dispiriting weather in Europe.

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In terms of grey clouds this might be true. We have very low sunshine levels compared to most other countries, but many places have higher levels of rainfall. Many people find the overcast skies grim – at Henry McDonald’s funeral a journalist who for some years lived in NI and covered it for Fleet Street told me that he loved his time here, except for lack of sun. But while NI weather can be depressing, it is not extreme. In fact we have the mildest weather in the British Isles, and were the only country out of the five never to have been below zero in the Fahrenheit scale (-17.8 Celsius) until 2010 and are still the only part not to have been over 90F (32.2C). I was not surprised this recent spell of snow didn’t last. As kids we became familiar with the disappointment of it disappearing. This is because temps here never stay below zero for long.

Meanwhile, the days now are almost lengthy. I love it!

Ben Lowry (@BenLowry2) is News Letter editor

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