Northern Ireland weather: Warning of ice after heavy snow

Strong sunshine yesterday saw the melting of much of the snow but with clear skies and temperatures remaining very low it prompted the warning about slippery conditions.

The PSNI has urged drivers to take extra care on icy roads right across NI after the Met Office issued a yellow warning for ice applying to all six counties lasting into this morning.

While much of Northern Ireland woke up to a blanket of snow yesterday, it was more like fun in the sun on the north coast with residents and visitors to Portstewart and Portrush donning their sunglasses and heading for a walk in the sunshine.

While the eastern areas of the Province were enduring power cuts and hazardous conditions, Portstewart promenade and Portrush were bustling with dog walkers and sun-seekers enjoying al fresco dining and even indulging in ice cream.

Buckets and spades, beach balls and other beach goodies were also on sale along the promenade and golfers were also enjoying the great weather potting a few holes along the coast road to Portrush.

One mum, who had brought their child for a play in the park, explained: “It’s such a good day. The sun is splitting the trees, it’s gorgeous. Such a difference to other all the other areas who are getting it tough.”

Another dog walker added: “It seems unreal that we are seeing fantastic weather and only a few miles away and they’re experiencing blizzards, snow and power cuts.”

Despite the many happy faces along the north coast, there were some unhappy children yesterday morning when they woke to find no snow and school was open.

Yesterday also proved to be great weather for dogs who were having a field day in back gardens and public parks, the younger ones never having experienced this magic powder before – suddenly a landscape with which they were all too familiar had been painted white.

But in typical doggy fashion apprehensive sniffs were soon following by dashes through the snow.

Meanwhile with industrial action ongoing in Road Service, road gritting was not as widespread as usual – focused primarily on the amber snow warning area to the east of the Province – and as a result driving conditions during the past two days were much worse than usual in some places.

David Porter, the director of engineering at the Department for Infrastructure (DfI), said the strike action by members of the GMB and Unite unions, said that the available resources were directed to those areas with the most significant snowfall, but said the reduced workforce “diminished our ability” to provide a full gritting programme.

"We had a difficult evening and overnight where we had very significant snowfall came in, pretty much as expected,” he said yesterday.

"We particularly concentrated in the amber warning area where we had an awful lot of snow that fell late [on Thursday] evening and overnight.

“As a result of that, we have continued to grit through the night, as resources permitted, but the strike action did diminish our ability, particularly yesterday evening, to carry out a full service,” Mr Porter told BBC Radio Ulster.

As the motorways and some other major roads are covered by contractors, they are not being affected by the strike.

In terms of traffic and travel yesterday the Moneydarragh Road in Annalong was closed due to fallen power lines with police warning that roads across the district were "treacherous" and urging drivers not to travel unless essential.

The Markethill Road, Collone in Armagh was impassable and Strangford Ferry was suspended due to the adverse weather conditions.

There was also significant congestion on the A49 Ballycarngannon Road in Lisburn due to vehicles being stuck in snow and a fallen tree partially blocked the northbound lane of the Hillsborough Road, Dromore.

There were also power cuts in the Hilltown/Newry area and in Dromore, Co Down.

Temperatures were expected to drop as low as minus two degrees last night.