Motorists warned of black ice and freezing fog

Drivers are being warned of black ice and freezing fog around the country as temperatures look set to dip to minus 7 degrees over the weekend.

Met Éireann issued a snow and ice warning for all of Ireland on Friday and AA Roadwatch have said there is already snow and ice in counties Cavan, Donegal, Monaghan, Roscommon, Leitrim, Westmeath and Louth.

Met Éireann’s status yellow alert, to notify people to take preventative action, will remain until at least 3pm Saturday.

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Road hazards: Sheep crossing in the Cooley Mountains, Co Louth, as temperatures drop across Ireland. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA

The cold snap is set to last until Wednesday with severe night frosts and wintry showers of hail, sleet and snow.

Gardaí and fire brigade services are warning of black ice on roads around the country and in Kilkenny, Carlow and Galway. The Road Safety Authority has alerted drivers of the hazards posed by freezing fog which has been forecast.

The cold snap is set to last until Wednesday with severe night frosts and wintry showers of hail, sleet and snow.

Meteorologist Joanna Donnelly said Ulster, particularly in parts of Donegal, were likely to get a build-up of snow over the weekend.

“Elsewhere, it will be mostly passing wintry showers. The west should have more showers but some places will have absolutely none,” she said.

Ms Donnelly said the thunder and lightning that was in places last night and Friday morning had passed for the time being.

She said although there was a risk temperatures would drop to minus 7 degrees, most areas would reach between minus 1-3 degrees.

“Severe frost is a risk if temperatures are down to minus 3. It’s likely to still be frosty in the morning so be careful of hazardous driving conditions. And where snow is lying it’s always dangerous to drive on.”

Ms Donnelly said weather warnings are issued on day-to-day basis and it was likely to stay “very cold” for the next week.

Forecasters said there will be widespread frost tonight will icy stretches. Temperatures could drop to minus 3 degrees.

Saturday will have scattered snow showers and clear spells during the day.

However, the night temperatures will drop between minus 1-7 degrees leading to severe frost across the country.

There will be wintry showers of hail, sleet and snow particularly in the northern half of country.

More hail and sleet on Sunday with the top temperatures reaching between 3-7 degrees with a risk of freezing fog.

Forecasters have said it looked like it will become less cold and unsettled towards the end of next week.

Eircom said 8,000 fixed line and broadband customers were still without service following this week’s heavy rain, wind and lightning.

The worst affected areas remain rural and exposed parts of Donegal, Mayo, Galway Cork, Sligo, Leitrim, Mayo, Limerick, Kerry and Clare.

During a 24-hour period Storm Rachel caused power outages, fallen trees, led to diverted flights and forced schools to close. The west and northwest regions of Ireland were worst hit.

In Lisburn, Co Antrim, a driver was killed when a tree fell on his van on the Hillsborough Road.

Elsewhere, two teenage girls were treated for non-life threatening injuries after being blown in front of a bus in Belfast.

While there was criticism of the severity of weather warnings in some areas, much damage had been caused when wind gusts reached as high as 150km/h from Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

“It wasn’t as bad as the storm on the 12th of February last year, which was the most recent benchmark,” said Met Éireann’s head of forecasting Gerald Fleming.

“It was similar in severity to other storms last winter. However, the storms last year brought a lot of flooding, but that didn’t happen this year because the high tides were not there at the same time as the winds.”

At least 20 flights were diverted from Dublin Airport and 38 cancelled, as gusts of up to 53 knots (almost 100 km/h) swept across runways.

Dublin airport said on Friday morning that it was “business as usual” although passengers were advised to check with airlines for updates.

Almost all schools are open on Friday after many shut on Thursday as a precaution.

Co Donegal bore the brunt of the storm, with up to 12,000 homes left without power. Several outages caused hours of disruption, particularly in Glenties, Derrybeg, Creeslough and Buncrana.

Wind gust speeds of up to 150km/h ripped tiles from roofs, while several roads were closed as large trees were brought down.

The vast majority of schools in the county remained closed after a directive from the Department of Education.

Ferry sailings to and from Tory Island and Arranmore were cancelled, as were flights from Donegal Airport.

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