Northern Ireland Weather: Areas to fall to -5°C on Friday morning whilst wintry showers also expected - bright sunshine also forecast

However, according to Met Office spokesman Andrea Bishop, this is ‘nothing unusual for the time of year’.

She added this change comes after last week when it was ‘unseasonably warm’.

The Met Office spokesman added there is the chance of ‘a frost in places most mornings this week, with temperatures falling to 0°C or perhaps lower in places’.

She added that temperatures are expected to fall ‘as low as -5°C on Friday morning’ whilst ‘Belfast however, doesn’t fall below 1°C’.

This morning was ‘a sunny but frosty start for many’ with cloud increasing by midday ‘with a few showers reaching the north coast, these mostly light but spreading inland this afternoon’.

It will be chilly with a maximum temperature of 8 °C.

And tonight, according to the Met Office will be ‘a rather cloudy evening with scattered shower’ but ‘becoming drier through the night with some good clear spells developing and a patchy frost away from coasts’.

The minimum temperature will be 0 °C.

And tomorrow (Wednesday) will see ‘a cold start with a frost in places’ and a dry day with plenty of sunshine in the morning’.

But, according to the Met Office ‘some patchy cloud will then bubble up by afternoon’ and there will be a maximum temperature of 8 °C’.

Whilst the outlook for Thursday to Saturday is ‘dry and largely sunny on Thursday but still chilly with an overnight frost’.

‘Mostly dry Friday once any showers clear away in the morning,’ adds the forecast.

Whilst it will be ‘dry with sunshine on Saturday’.

And looking further ahead the forecast for Saturday 15 Mar - Monday 24 Mar is: “The weekend will continue on a cool theme, but with the high pressure to the north becoming more dominant it should lead to a reduction in shower activity seen on previous days.

"So there should be a good deal of dry weather with plenty of sunshine by day, but still some noticeably chilly nights with frost fairly widespread.

"The odd fog patch is possible in the north, and a brisk breeze across the south will make it feel notably chilly here on Saturday.

"Next week is likely to see a gradual transition to less settled conditions as the high likely withdraws to the east.

"So rain or showers at times, mostly focussed across the south, the north perhaps staying largely dry and it is also likely to become much milder.

And even further into the future from Wednesday 26 Mar - Wednesday 9 Apr is: “Confidence is low, but through the end of March changeable weather patterns are most likely.

"This means periods of unsettled, wet and windy weather interspersed with some drier and brighter spells.

"Into early April, there may be a transition to more-frequent drier and more settled spells.

"Temperatures will probably be above average overall.”