Motorists urged to be extra careful after overnight snow and ice – The Irish Times

The worst of the freezing conditions in recent days should leave Ireland by Friday afternoon but forecasters have warned of uncertain conditions for the weekend.

A status orange snow and ice warning for Dublin and Wicklow remained in place on Friday morning, with Met Éireann warning of further sleet and snowfall for a period on Friday, with accumulation in places and freezing conditions.

Motorists have been advised to exercise extra caution due to the dangerous road conditions and some disruption to public transport is expected. Commuters are advised to check with transport companies.

A status yellow ice alert for all of Ireland remains in place through midday, with widespread freezing and patchy icy surfaces.

Another orange weather warning was issued by Met Éireann on Thursday, covering nine counties in the north and north-west of the country as of midnight on Thursday.

“It’s going to clear up pretty well for Friday,” said Met Éireann meteorologist Brandon Creagh. “It will still be quite cold and the ice will take a while to break up because there will be cold air over the land.

“Saturday is a bit more uncertain at the moment. We have another band of rain from the Atlantic that could turn wintry,” Creagh said. “It doesn’t look that wintry [as Thursday] but there will still be isolated excitement on Saturday.”

[ Injured woman among six helped from snowy Carrauntoohil by Kerry Mountain Rescue ]

The crisis management team of the National Directorate of Fire and Emergency Management will meet for the third time on Friday morning to assess the situation, after a second meeting on Thursday. Composed of local authorities, key emergency organizations, key government departments and other organizations, the team provided general advice and enacted safety measures, including street sweeping, while emergency services remained on standby overnight.

Cold weather precautions were also put in place across the country to ensure there was no reason for rough sleeping. The Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) said emergency beds were temporarily available for the duration of the weather alert from their NGO partners.

Motorists have been warned of potentially hazardous driving conditions and travel disruptions caused by frost even as the worst of the snow subsides and roads are gritted. Temperature highs of four to seven degrees will prevail on Friday and the winds will ease as the day progresses.

Temperatures in Ireland were expected to drop as low as minus four overnight while the UK Met Office had similar severe weather warnings for Northern Ireland through Friday afternoon.

Extremes were evident early Thursday when counties Limerick and Clare were blanketed in thick snow, prompting some school closures. The worst overnight weather was expected in the North Midlands, Connacht and Ulster.

A woman was rescued from a snowy Carrauntoohil, Ireland’s highest mountain, in treacherous conditions in Co Kerry early yesterday morning in the Hags Glen area. Kerry Mountain Rescue, who responded, described the mountain conditions as extremely challenging.