Northern Ireland set to welcome in 2026 with potential snow showers
Northern Ireland is set to welcome in 2026 with an icy blast - and the possibility of sleet and snow showers across the Province.
According to the Met Office there is a lot of uncertainty about what the next few days hold for Northern Ireland.
However it has initially forecast wintry showers on New Year’s Day evening, Thursday, with snow overnight into Friday and further show showers on Saturday.
While weather warnings are in place for Scotland and parts of England, the Met Office advises News Letter readers that further warnings could be issued as the week progresses.
In the rest of the UK heavy snow showers are definitly on the way, with a Met Office Yellow Warning for snow and ice issued for parts of Scotland from 6am on Thursday until midnight on January 2.
It comes as an amber cold health alert has been issued for the north east and north west of England, which is due to remain in place until noon on January 5, with temperatures expected to fall to 3-5C.
The Met Office said the yellow warning for snow and ice means “frequent and heavy snow showers may lead to some travel disruption”.
By Friday morning, the Met Office is predicting 2-5cm of snow, with 10cm in certain local areas and 10-20cm in some areas above 200m.
On the highest routes and hills, 30cm or more may build through the period, the forecaster added.
Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland the outlook for the latter half of the week is cold and windy. Thursday is cloudy with showers becoming wintry towards the evening. Snow showers are expected to become frequent overnight into Friday but ease for a time from the afternoon.
However the forecast is very uncertain and may change.
Met Office spokesman Stephen Dixon told the News Letter that there’s still "a lot of uncertainty at the moment" and that it is not possible to give concrete answers about how Northern Ireland will be impacted by snow.
"The UK will get more markedly cold conditions from New Year’s Day, with the initial snow risk in northern and central parts of Scotland with a weather warning issued from Thursday and into Friday," he said.
"With cold air firmly in place over Northern Ireland from Friday, there is a chance of snow flurries for a time on Friday and into the weekend but it’s simply too early to give specific details on how exactly this may take shape.
"Forecasting snow in the UK is a complex process, with many different factors needed to create the conditions for snowfall.
"What we can say at this point is that there’s a potential for wintry hazards in Northern Ireland later this week and into the weekend, and higher ground would generally be the area we’d look at for higher accumulations, though we can’t rule out some flurries to lower levels at times."
He advised readers to keep an eye on the Met Office forecast as there is a potential for further warnings to be issued later this week.
Initial forecasts for 3-12 January are that northerly winds will bring a spell of very cold, wintry conditions to much of if not all of the UK through, at least the early part of this period.