Knock-on effect of weekend heavy fog grounds more flights in and out of Belfast City Airport

On Sunday, seven flights were redirected to Belfast International, while five others were diverted to Dublin due to poor visibility on the ground.

The main routes affected were London, Edinburgh, Manchester and Southampton.

On Monday, several Aer Lingus flights between Belfast City and Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds/Bradford were also cancelled.

The Inverness route operated by Loganair was also affected, with the 15:25 flight into Belfast and the outward flight at 15:55 cancelled.

At one point on Sunday, the Flight Radar 24 website showed that five aircraft were circling Belfast Lough pending clearance to land at the city airport.

A Belfast City Airport spokeswoman has confirmed that Monday's cancellations were a knock-on effect from Sunday's fog issues.

She said: “A number of flights experienced disruption due to the thick fog.

"Whilst unavoidable, we do apologise for the inconvenience and advise passengers to contact their airline should they need to reschedule.”

The Belfast Giant’s Elite League match against the Cardiff Devils was also a victim of Sunday’s fog after the Welsh team’s flight to Belfast wad cancelled.

The Devils issued a statement on Sunday announcing the postponment, and said the tickets purchased “will be valid for the rescheduled game".

Although the weekend fog has cleared, the outlook for the rest of the week is, cold and mainly dry with some sunny spells.

The Met Office said: “It will still be quite cold and there will certainly be frosty mornings.

"Members of the public will probably be more wrapped up as it's going to be one of the coldest weeks in winter since probably the end of November."

The minimum temperature on Monday night was due to fall as low as -4C, leading to the PSNI issuing a warning to motorists to “stick to the main roads”.

In a statement, a police spokesperson said: “Stick to main, gritted roads when possible. Slow down, and increase your braking distance from the vehicle in front.”

A low temperature warning was also announced for the Republic of Ireland, with parts of the country expected to experience a drop to minus 5C overnight.

Commenting on the forecast for the rest of the week, the Met Office said Tuesday will be mainly dry with “only a few isolated showers, with some areas getting prolonged spells of winter sunshine.

The maximum temperature will be 5C.

From Wednesday to Friday, it will be rather cloudy with some sunny spells, and by Friday there will be increased cloud cover and patchy rain across the north coast.

In GB, a yellow warning for ice was in place across southern England and South Wales, valid until 3am on Tuesday.

Temperatures dipped to -8C at Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands on Sunday and temperatures are expected to be lower than average for this time of year for much of the week.