Met Office warning of snow over next two days

Alerts have been in place since yesterday to prepare for snow and high winds, with today being the most likely day to experience lying snow.

Yellow snow warnings remain in place in the Province until Friday.

The unusual phenomenon known as ‘thundersnow’ where a thunderstorm precipitates snowfall instead of rain, remains a possibility with the Met Office predicting thunder for the north coast along with snow showers.

Conditions were predicted to worsen overnight last night with showers turning increasingly to snow.

Lying snow was predicted as likely over higher ground.

Wintry showers were expected to turn more frequent and prolonged today with a risk of lying snow applying to low levels as well as higher ground.

The Met Office said there was the potential for disruption to transport networks with longer journey times.

Icy stretches on untreated roads and pavements were also possible.

The yellow warning of snow remains in place on Friday for the western side of Northern Ireland affecting counties Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone.

While showers were due to continue over the weekend, further snow had not been forecast for Saturday and Sunday.

Meanwhile, in a bid to protect themselves and their property from ‘severe weather emergencies’ a Co Down village has launched their own pilot project.

Dromara is hoping to implement a self-help plan that will train participants in how to deal with such events as flooding and heavy snow.

Councillor James Baird, chairman of the Lisburn & Castlereagh Council’s environmental services committee, said: “Dromara village was identified because of its past incidents of severe weather including the spring blizzard of 2013 and flooding in 2008.

“With a combination of being located at a high altitude and a large number of residents there is a strong benefit to developing a community self-help plan to prepare the Dromara community for dealing with severe weather.”