Northern Ireland has gotten off rather lightly after emerging from last week's cold spell, with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) extending its cold weather health alert for all of England until Tuesday.

Met Office yellow warnings for ice were in place every day in Northern Ireland from January 1-10, with snow warnings from 4th to the 9th and freezing fog on the 8th and 9th.

The seasonal inclement weather saw intense gritting of the main road network to keep Northern Ireland moving.

Hundreds of pupils celebrated 'snow days' with the closure of dozens of schools due to adverse weather conditions – especially in the North West and Tyrone.

placeholder image — Skaters on a frozen flooded field in Upware, Cambridgeshire. The Cambridgeshire Fens were the birthplace of British speed skating and require four nights of frost, with a temperature of -4 or colder and little or no thawing during the days in between, to make ice strong enough to skate on. Picture date: Saturday January 11, 2025.

But while the weekend has seen a big thaw in Northern Ireland, even more extreme weather is set to persist into this week in Britain.

Met Office senior operational meteorologist Marco Petagna told the News Letter: “As seen in the statistics, it has been a cold week in Northern Ireland, especially with widespread frosts.”

He noted that the lowest temperatures of the past week were on Wednesday with -6.8C at Katesbridge, Thursday with -7.3C at Castlederg and Friday with -6.8C at Altnahinch in Co Antrim.

The average minimum temperature in Northern Ireland last week was only 2C with the average maximum 7C.

However, by Saturday the big freeze was over, with temperatures reaching 7.1C at Murlough in south Down.

He added: “The week ahead will be often cloudy and breezy with some patchy rain at times, but much milder than in recent days with generally frost-free weather. It will turn perhaps turning wetter and windier into next weekend.”

Meanwhile, the mercury dipped to -13.9C overnight on Saturday in Scotland.

Kinbrace in northern Scotland saw that lowest overnight temperature, while Cavendish in Suffolk hit -7.8C and Hawarden Airport in Wales dropped to -2.2C, the Met Office said.

Freezing fog settled on areas of south-east England and Northern Ireland yesterday morning, causing some icy conditions, but it was expected to clear by the afternoon.

It comes after temperatures plummeted to -18.9C on Saturday morning in Altnaharra, Scotland – the UK’s coldest January night in 15 years.

The UKHSA has extended its cold weather health alert for all of England until tomorrow.

Amber alerts mean a rise in deaths, particularly among those aged 65 and over or with health conditions, are likely, the agency said.

Yesterday, temperatures were due to reach 2C or 3C in the south east, with 6C-9C for the far west. For the vast majority it was expected to be between 5C and 7C.

Next week is set to start with a north and south split with the temperatures and weather, with Northern Ireland and the northern half of the country cloudy with outbreaks of patchy rain and between 9C and 12C, while the central and southern areas drier and between 5C and 8C.