Weather warnings in place across Ireland due to wintry conditions

A weather warning has been issued for every county in the Republic of Ireland after sleet and snow led to travel disruption in some parts.

The Irish weather agency Met Eireann said cold temperatures could mean ice develops on untreated surfaces, leading to hazardous travelling conditions.

A status yellow ice warning will be in effect from 6pm on Friday until 9am on Saturday.

It comes after a status yellow snow and ice warning was issued for the entire province of Munster as well as Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Offaly, Wexford, and Wicklow.

The warning covers the areas from midday to 6pm on Friday.

A separate yellow rain warning with the risk of localised flooding is in place for Dublin, Louth, Meath and Wicklow and will expire at 3am on Saturday.

On Friday morning, the agency said temporary accumulations of snow and falling sleet had the potential to cause poor visibility and hazardous travelling conditions.

A status yellow warning for snow and ice, which has now expired, was in place for Cavan, Monaghan, Kildare, Longford, Westmeath, Leitrim, Roscommon, Sligo and Donegal.

The forecaster said there will be persistent rain, with a mix of sleet and snow at times.

Iarnrod Eireann said some DART trains for commuters around Dublin had been delayed on Friday, with the suspension of services between Lansdowne and Bray.

It said that a tree fell on overhead power lines near Merrion Street and crews are working to repair them.

There are also long delays from Heuston to Westport and Heuston to Galway.

Some Bus Eireann services to and from Dublin and Donegal and Cavan were also cancelled because of bad weather, as well as services between Cavan and Dundalk.

Dublin Bus said its 44B route from Glencullen was curtailed due to the weather.

Brandon Craig, meteorologist at Met Eireann, said that a rain warning was issued on Thursday afternoon but it was predicted that snow would fall on higher ground only.

He said that snow is “notoriously difficult” to predict.

“It wasn’t clear until this morning that it was going to be as heavy as it is and as widespread,” Mr Craig told RTE Radio One.

“The model had the freezing levels too high up over hills and higher areas but it turns out that… complex dynamics pushed the snow down further than what it should have and that’s what led to the lying snow over most areas.

“There was a signal for snow but it was over higher ground to the north.

“Snow is notoriously the most difficult in meteorological parameters to forecast in Ireland. If we had a crystal ball and we knew exactly what was going to happen maybe that would have been an orange warning but given the risk at the time we don’t take our warnings lightly at all.

“We can’t over-warn otherwise people won’t believe the orange warnings when they come. The warnings that were put out were based on the most accurate evidence at the time.”

Flights into and out of Dublin were also delayed throughout Friday.

Pictures of Michael D Higgins’ dog, Misneach, playing in the snow at Aras an Uachtarain were posted to the President’s Instagram account.

In Northern Ireland, police said they received several reports of vehicles becoming stuck in heavy overnight snow in and around Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh.

They urged motorists to consider whether their journey is necessary, and to travel with “extra caution”.

The UK Met Office had initiated a snow warning for Armagh, Fermanagh, Tyrone and Londonderry overnight, expiring at 10am on Friday.