Motorists and pedestrians have been warned to be extremely careful on Tuesday morning as freezing and compacted ice and snow overnight will have made many roads treacherous for the third morning in a row.
Met Éireann issued two new weather warnings on Monday. The first was a status yellow, low temperature alert which predicted temperatures would drop to minus four degrees overnight. The warning remains in place until 10am on Tuesday.
The second weather warning was also a yellow alert, this time for small craft at sea as northwest to north winds will reach force 6 at times on Monday evening on all Irish coasts. The warning is to be reviewed on Tuesday.
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The yellow warning is the least severe of Met Éireann’s three such alerts - these being yellow, orange and red warning systems.
Dublin Fire Brigade also issued a warning, this time asking pedestrians to be extremely careful walking on compacted snow and ice and to be aware of the possibility of black ice . The fire service said it had been called out to seven falls in the capital on Monday morning.
The Fire Brigade tweeted : “So far today our ambulances have responded to 7 falls across the city due to ice underfoot. Take care if you’re out and about. Black ice may be present”.
The coldest spot in Ireland on Sunday night was Dublin where temperatures plummeted to -6.6 degrees at the Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel. Temperatures were equally freezing in Gurteen, Co Tipperary where it fell to -6.3 degrees.
The weather also fell below freezing in Mullingar which reached -5.3 degrees, in Mountdillon in Co Roscommon with -4.6 degrees and in Markree in Co Sligo with -4.6 degrees.
Met Éireann reported a temperature in Athenry of -3.3 degrees on Sunday evening while Cork Airport noted temperatures falling to -2 degrees.
Temperatures in Belmullet stayed just above freezing at 0.7 degrees while Malin Head recorded 2.1 degree.
Melting snow and ice which is expected to freeze overnight is expected to make driving difficult in many areas across the west, midlands and north east again on Tuesday where some schools were closed on Monday. However local authorities have been clearing isolated routes and it is expected the school bus service will be operating fully on Tuesday morning.
Transport Infrastructure Ireland warned of road temperatures falling as low as minus 4 degrees on Monday night with dangers of ice forming. Many road temperatures monitored by the roads authority only briefly rose above zero on Monday. Shortly after 4pm the coldest road displayed on the TII website was the N2 in Monaghan where the temperature was at minus 2.6 degrees . The N6 at Loughrea, Co Galway was recording a temperature of slightly less than freezing at 0.2 degrees.
All the main national and motorway routes are expected to be open on Tuesday but the Road Safety Authority has asked drivers to allow extra time and travel carefully.
Bus passengers to Ballyjamesduff in Co Cavan, and Gowran in Co Kilkenny among others rural towns and villages, have been advised to check with transport operators about services this evening and tonight.
At Dublin Airport flights to the UK may suffer ongoing delays due to weather conditions there. The airport has advised intending travellers to check flight details with their airlines.
Met Éireann said Tuesday will start cold and frosty in many areas, but rain will spread through western and northwestern counties in the morning and extend to eastern areas in the afternoon. There will be some falls of sleet in places with snow on high ground for a time in the north. Afternoon temperatures of 2 to 6 degrees Celsius in eastern areas, but 6 to 8 degrees Celsius in the west and southwest and up to 10 degrees along the southwest coast.
Tuesday night will see rain clear eastwards with clear spells developing. However some showers will occur along Atlantic coastal counties later in the night. Lowest temperatures of 0 to 4 Celsius, coldest in eastern areas. Winds moderate southwest to west in direction but fresh to strong and gusty along Atlantic coasts.
