Cold but bright weekend for Northern Ireland after snow disruption

The ‘yellow’ alert is the least severe of the weather warnings but there was sufficient snowfall last night to cause difficulties in many parts of Northern Ireland.

Sleet and snow showers became gradually more persistent yesterday and the outlook for this morning is a similar picture.

By late afternoon yesterday several centimetres of snow had already fallen in parts of Fermanagh, the Glens of Antrim and on higher ground in the south Down area.

Driving conditions were also reported to be particularly difficult on the Glenshane Pass.

A spokeswoman for the Met Office said: “There will be quite showery weather around. There won’t be sleet or snow continually but it will be on and off.

“It looks likely that in low lying areas there will be one to four centimetres of snow in places, but above fairly modest heights, about 150 metres, there could be as much as five to ten centimetres.”

The forecaster said Co Antrim was likely to be worst affected and added: “The showers should lessen as we go into Friday with more in the way of sunshine. Then, the emphasis changes away from snow and sleet showers to more in the way of sunshine and drier weather through the weekend.”

Although it will still be quite chilly over the weekend and the early part of next week, warmer weather coming in from the Atlantic is expected to arrive by midweek.

The spokeswoman added: “After dropping down to around -2C or -3C overnight [on Thursday], during the day around 4C to 5C will be the maximum. Friday night into Saturday will be similar, but Saturday night in particular looks to be colder...with temperatures down to minus four or minus five.”

Snow showers have also caused disruption across Scotland, Wales and northern England.