New Northern Ireland amber weather warning for snow and ice issued

Forecasters say existing yellow warning heavy snow has the potential to cause disruption across Northern Ireland on Thursday and Friday.

A yellow weather warning for snow is now in place across all counties, extending to 2pm on Friday.

A more extreme amber warning for snow and ice has now been issued for parts of counties Antrim, Armagh and Down from 3pm on Thursday to 4am on Friday.

Met Office forecasters say snow will spread north during Thursday afternoon, which will be heavy at times. The easterly winds will become strong and the maximum temperature will be 4 °C.

Snow will continue through this evening and the first part of the night but then clearing east, leaving clear skies behind. The winds will ease and the minimum temperature is likely to be-4 °C.

The PSNI has urged motorists to take extra care on the roads today, especially on those which may not have been gritted.

"Clear your windscreen of ice and snow before you set off and remember to slow down and increase the distance between you and the car ahead,” a spokesperson said.

"Stopping distances increase greatly when weather conditions are poor, so slow down and leave a bigger gap between your vehicle and the vehicle in front, and drive as smoothly as possible.

"Please also listen to and consider all travel and safety advice before making any journey and respect any road closure signage.”

Earlier this week the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) urged road users to be extra careful on the roads this week during the current period of cold weather and industrial action by members of the GMB and Unite unions continues.

"The Department’s delivery of Winter Service (gritting of the road network) will be disrupted this week as there are insufficient staff available to run both an am and pm gritting rota,” a DfI spokesperson said.

The Met Office said Friday is expected to be a cold but mainly fine and dry day with just the odd shower. There will be generally light winds and the maximum temperature 6 °C.

There will be a dry and bright start on Saturday but rain or sleet will soon pushing in from the southwest. There will be further bands of rain on Sunday and Monday with drier spells between.