Northern Ireland Weather: Met Office issue Yellow Ice warning as temperatures dip to at least -3 °C tonight and snow forecast for weekend

The latest weather warning – from 5pm today to 10am tomorrow – is a Yellow one for Ice in Northern Ireland.

The Met Office say there will be ‘icy surfaces leading to difficult travel conditions’ and the public should expect ‘probably some icy patches on some untreated roads, pavements and cycle paths’.

The weather warning adds that ‘scattered wintry showers will be replaced by a longer spell of rain and sleet for a time on Thursday night, particularly across western Scotland and Northern Ireland’.

And ‘as temperatures dip below freezing, this will lead to a risk of ice formation on untreated surfaces, especially inland’.

It comes after another Yellow Ice warning in the previous 24 hours.

Meanwhile today (Thursday) will be ‘a cold but bright and largely dry day, the best sunny spells in southern counties’.

The Met Office add there will be ‘a few wintry showers, mainly in the north, these mostly in the morning’. There will be a maximum temperature of 3 °C.

Tonight will have ‘a dry evening and start to the night with clear spells’ and ‘cloud increasing across the north in the early hours with some showers’.

There will be a minimum temperature of -3 °C.

Tomorrow (Friday) will be ‘a mostly dry, rather cloudy day, with some bright spells’ and ‘a few well scattered showers, these mainly in the north’.

There will be a maximum temperature of 4 °C.

Meanwhile the outlook for Saturday to Monday is ‘dry and bright much of Saturday’ but ‘rain, sleet and snow spreading north late in the day and on Sunday, clearing to a mostly dry Monday. with strong northerly winds’.

Spokesman for the Met Office, Oli Claydon, said “just because there are no warnings for Northern Ireland through the rest of the week at the moment, does not mean that it won’t be difficult”.

"With the disruptive snow throughout England, Wales and into southern Scotland, it doesn’t bring a huge amount of precipitation to Northern Ireland.

"But there is still a chance of snow, though maybe more in the way of snow showers rather than persistent heavy snow like we are seeing in England.

“However just a change of one single degree can see a change from rain to snow.

"It is a fine balance really, so I would advise you to pay attention to the forecast and the warnings over the weekend”.

Read about which routs are worst affected in Winter News from the Northern Ireland Executive here