Icy conditions but NI escapes deep freeze

While the Province is escaping the worst of the deep freeze gripping much of the UK, the Northern Ireland Roads Service has warned there could still be ice on the roads as people make their morning commute today.

Temperatures dropped well below freezing across much of England and Wales last night and a yellow warning for snow and ice from the Met Office remains in place for much of the UK today, following disruption yesterday.

In Northern Ireland, however, a slightly warmer current of air means there is no Met Office warning in place.

The cold spell follows the stormy weather of recent days, with Storm Arwen causing disruption across the UK.

The strong winds at the weekend caused damage to the iconic Dark Hedges near Ballymoney, made internationally famous by the television programme ‘Game of Thrones’, with trees uprooted.

Dan Stroud, a Met Office meteorologist, explains: “The principle reason, really, is that we’ve got this cold, northernly feed established across the country.

“But Northern Ireland, the west of Wales and the far south west of Cornwall is much closer to a slightly warmer feed of air. Temperatures are a smidge higher there.”

He continued: “Overnight lows will only be going down to around three degrees across Belfast, but of course rural locations will see temperatures lower than that.

“The reason is we’re seeing quite a bit of cloud moving across the west , whereas across parts of England and Wales it’s clear skies and that will create conditions where we’ve had some rain or sleet or snow where it can freeze in places.

“We’re expecting temperatures across England and Wales below zero quite widely, and minus fours in some spots, with even minus five and minus six in areas where snow has fallen in some of the hillier parts.”

He added: “We’re looking at maximum temperatures of around eight degrees in Belfast on Monday.”

For the week ahead, Mr Stroud said temperatures are likely to be “on the cold side of average” for this time of year with snow possible in places heading into the month of December.