Northern Ireland welcomes in December 2023 with festive frosty scenes

For Northern Ireland, the forecaster also warned of the possibility of some sleet or snow in showers on Friday, with a maximum temperature of 4C throughout the day.

Showers are expected to move in from the west from Friday into Saturday bringing a risk of some rain, sleet or perhaps snow for northern coastal areas.

The seasonal weather came as other parts of the UK were warned of up to 5cm of snow on Friday, with temperatures in some places dropping as low as 10C.

In Brtain, snow swept across the South West, parts of Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland on Thursday. More than 30 schools in Cornwall closed for the day or opened late due to hazardous conditions.

A yellow weather warning for snow and ice remained in place on Friday for the eastern coast of the UK, stretching from Scotland to East Anglia.

For Northern Ireland, Friday night was to be mostly dry with a few showers in the west and patches of fog with a minimum temperature of -1C.

Saturday is to see the fog clearing only slowly with sunny spells and perhaps an isolated shower in the west with maximum temperatures of 3C.

Then Sunday is to have a dry, bright morning and afternoon showers in the east.

Christmas is still almost a month away, so it is impossible to forecast the chances of White Christmas, the Met Office said.