Northern Ireland cold snap: New Met Office ice warning on Thursday

An ice warning has been issued by the Met Office across much of counties Antrim and Londonderry on Thursday evening.

The Met Office is warning of wintry showers, which may lead to ice and slippery surfaces in untreated areas.

The warning came into force at 17:25 GMT and will stay in place until 22:00.

Some wintry showers are expected to continue for some time as temperatures again widely fall at least several degrees below zero.

Thermometers could fall close to around -10C on Thursday night and in the early hours of Friday morning.

The bitterly low temperatures are likely to remain until the start of the weekend.

Northern Ireland recorded its coldest night of the year so far, with -10C recorded at Castlederg, County Tyrone – the lowest temperature recorded anywhere on the island this year.

The town also holds the record for Northern Ireland’s lowest-recorded temperature of -18.7°. That all-time low was recorded during the big freeze back in the winter of 2010.

In the Republic of Ireland a Status Orange warning – the second highest alert – is in place across much of the country until noon on Friday.

The first Status Orange warning issued in the Republic came into force at 18:00 on Wednesday and lasted until 12:00 on Thursday. The second warning remains in place.

Met Éireann is warning of extremely cold conditions with widespread temperatures below -5°.

Many of Northern Ireland’s councils have set up dedicated web pages as one-stop-shops for information on their own services and those run by different organisations in the borough.

They serve as a directory of timetables and contact details on a range of cost-of-living issues, such as food banks, warm spaces and financial support.