Arctic blast to bring 'treacherous conditions' on Northern Ireland's roads this week
Met Office forecaster, John Wylie, spoke exclusively to Cool FM/Downtown.
Last updated 15th Jan 2024
Forecasters say an Arctic blast could bring up to five centimetres of snow on higher ground in Northern Ireland today. A yellow weather warning is in place until tomorrow morning.
The freezing temperatures are to continue throughout this week. The Met Office have put further weather warnings in place until late Thursday.
Road users are being warned that there could be ‘treacherous conditions’ in the mornings this week... including on Thursday when some roads will not be gritted because of upcoming strike action.
Speaking exclusively to Cool FM/Downtown, John Wylie, a forecaster from the Met Office said: “Winter has certainly arrived across Northern Ireland. We've got the coldest weather of the entire winter season to look forward to over the next two or three days. There will be some sleet and snow showers around on Monday afternoon and that could merge into a longer spell of sleet and snow for some areas just for a time on Tuesday morning. So, there could be some tricky travel conditions.”
When asked about the weather towards the end of the week, he said that by Wednesday and Thursday, the cold snap will return across the country, making travel conditions “quite tricky”.
Mr Wylie went on to say, “I think we're looking at treacherous road conditions where snow showers fall during Wednesday, Thursday and early Friday. There could be some ice around in the mornings and that might be slow to clear during the day and for that reason the Met Office have issued warnings for ice and snow at the moment right up until the end of Thursday, and those will be reviewed over the coming days.”
The frosty mornings this week will be impacting most of the country. On Wednesday and Thursday, snow showers could become slightly more widespread across the northern half of the country. Antrim, Londonderry and North Tyron will see the lion share of the snow, where several inches of snow will fall.
Although we are in the heart of winter, weather will resume to its usual wet and windy conditions after his week. Mr Wylie said: “Well, it looks as though this cold snap will be relatively short lived. So, by the weekend, things will be turning much milder. Again, back to regular wet and windy conditions… I'm sure at some point over the next number of weeks we'll see winter make a return. So very much regular winter weather, but tricky mornings to come through the remainder of this week.”
Check out Northern Ireland's five day weather forecast:
Today: A very cold day with sunny periods, these prolonged in the south. Scattered snow showers will be most frequent in the north with locally moderate accumulations. Maximum temperature 3 °C.
Tonight: The night will continue very cold with clear spells in the south. Sleet and snow showers become more frequent across northern and eastern parts. Minimum temperature -2 °C.
Tuesday: Tuesday morning will soon become cloudy with sleet or snow becoming widespread while turning to rain, this becoming patchy from late afternoon. Maximum temperature 4 °C.
Outlook for Wednesday to Friday: Very cold with the chance of a few snow showers in the north Wednesday, Thursday, windy at times. Becoming dry and less cold Friday with rain preceded by snow later.
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