Snow on the way as updated weather warning issued for Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is braced for arctic conditions on Thursday after the Met Office issued a new yellow weather warning for snow.

On Thursday at 10 am, February 8, the warning will come into effect, until 6 am. on Friday, February 9.

Forecast from 10am on Thursday morning across all of Northern Ireland as well as parts of Wales and northern England, the public are warned that the snowfall could bring some disruption throughout the day and into Friday morning.

This means there is “a small chance” that power cuts will occur and other services, such as mobile phone coverage, may be affected.

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There is also “a slight chance” that some rural communities could become cut off as well as the potential for travel delays on roads with some stranded passengers, along with delayed or cancelled rail and air travel.

It follows recent weather disruption from Storms Isha and Jocelyn, with high winds causing widespread power cuts across the island of Ireland as well as creating road hazards due to fallen trees.

According to the forecast, up to two centimetres of snow is possible at lower levels, 2-5cm on ground above 200 metres, and as much as 15-25cm above 400m.

There is a risk of power cuts, travel delays and a “slight chance that some rural communities could become cut off”, the Met Office warned.

It added that the snow will ease later in the day on Thursday, and may turn back to rain or drizzle, especially in the south and east of the warning area.

In the Republic, a status yellow snow and ice warning has been issued by Met Éireann for eight counties due to the expected drop in temperatures across the country.

For Cavan, Monaghan, and Connacht, a status yellow warning for snow and ice will be in effect starting at 2:00 am local time on Thursday and will last until 18:00 pm.

Donegal will also be under a separate yellow warning, which will be in effect from 11:00 am on Thursday until 20:00 pm on the same day.

Amber weather warnings for snow have been issued for parts of northern England and North Wales on Thursday.

Up to 25cm of snow is forecast across the Peak District and the southern Pennines, with a warning in force from noon until 6pm.

A separate warning for snow and ice is in place between 8am and 3pm across North Wales and Shropshire.

Yellow warnings are also in place from 6am on Thursday to 6pm on Friday for potentially disruptive snow across northern Wales, northern England and the Midlands.

Snowfall last month in Northern Ireland came as gritter operators held a week-long strike.

On Tuesday, transport workers announced they had deferred a further three days of strike action until the end of the month to give political leaders at Stormont time to make an improved pay offer.

The next scheduled strike will now start on a staggered basis across 72 hours from midnight on February 27 to midnight on February 29.

A joint statement from Unite, GMB and SIPTU said they had yet to receive any offer of negotiations from Translink.

The new Infrastructure Minister, Sinn Féin’s John O’Dowd, welcomed the delay and said he was hopeful a pay deal was imminent.

“The Trade Unions are aware of the strain on public finances and particularly the under-funding of public transport services over many years,” he said.

“I am happy to meet with the Unions to discuss this important issue and to encourage them to reach a resolution with Translink management on their pay award as quickly as possible.”

“Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said Stormont now had “a small window” to come forward with a pay offer.”