Met Office issue weather warning for snow and ice in Northern Ireland

The Met Office have issued a Yellow Weather Warning for snow and ice in Northern Ireland for the early hours and morning of Friday 7 January.

The warning covers from 12am - 10am on Friday morning, and mainly affects western parts of the country, although the forecast at this stage shows that we can expect some wintry showers and low temperatures locally in the Ballymena area.

A spokesperson for the Met Office said:

“Frequent wintry showers arriving from the west overnight Thursday into Friday are likely to lead to a fresh covering of snow for areas above 200m (mainly around 2-5 cm, possibly as much as 10 cm over highest ground where showers are most frequent).

“Falling snow below this level may cause some temporary slushy accumulations which then may freeze and cause dangerous, icy patches where skies remain clear for long enough.

“These showers will turn increasingly to rain and sleet at lower levels through Friday morning, before steadily easing from the west through the afternoon ahead of an area of rain and milder conditions.”