Freeze-up to continue as drivers warned over icy conditions

THE COLD weather is expected to continue for the next few days as motorists are being warned of a “hard freeze” and roads “like sheets of ice”, particularly in Leinster.

The heavy snowfall yesterday, especially over Dublin, led to the closure of Dublin Airport for some seven hours, traffic jams, curtailment of bus services and the cancellation of sporting fixtures.

With air temperatures expected to reach minus four or five degrees last night, roads were expected to be very hazardous this morning, said Vincent O’Shea of Met Éireann.

The heavy snow seen in Dublin yesterday is expected to move northwards to Donegal, Mayo and the northwest, according to Mr O’Shea

Outside the northwest it is expected to be bright and dry, but there will be “no let up in the cold snap”, hesaid.

Early next week will stay cold but the frost and snow will not be as severe as over the last few days and there will be one or two rogue showers.

Dublin Airport is expected to operate as normal this morning following the cancellation of some 200 flights in and out of the airport yesterday due to heavy snow. This accounted for around half of the airport’s normal traffic. Siobhan Moore of the Dublin Airport Authority said while the runway could freeze today they were “well used” to dealing with such a situation.

Despite severe road conditions over much of Dublin yesterday, the number of collisions was low, Nicola Hudson of AA Roadwatch said.

Motorists seemed to be heeding warnings to be careful and use dipped headlights, she said.

“Some of the complaints we got in were that people were driving too slowly. But you can’t be too careful,” she added.

In Dublin, snowfall yesterday afternoon which turned to slush caused severe traffic disruption in Blackrock, Dundrum and Sandyford at the M50. Some roads were impassable at Rathfarnham and Stepaside.

Heavy snowfall in the city centre also meant a slow rush hour. South Dublin County Council said it had gritted the equivalent of some 2,500km of road since the cold snap began on Monday.

The continued winter weather looks set to affect some of the weekend’s sporting events.

An assessment was to take place early this morning to decide if Sunday’s race meeting at Leopardstown would take place due to snow and rain. Snow was still falling at the lunchtime assessment yesterday when the track was unfit for racing.

“It just depends how quickly things clear up but at the moment, it wouldn’t look terrific,” Irish Turf Club press officer Cliff Noone said yesterday.

Tomorrow’s racing at Naas was cancelled yesterday due to waterlogging and snow.

However, it is “highly unlikely” the Ireland vs France Six Nations rugby match at Croke Park tomorrow will be cancelled, an IRFU spokeswoman said. However, inspections for some of the smaller rugby matches will take place this morning.