North To Escape Worst Of Ireland's Snow

While Northern Ireland is to be mainly dry, bright and very cold on Friday with weekend south-westerly winds bringing just scattered sleet and snow showers, heavy snow is set to engulf the Irish Republic once again with up to 10cm of the white stuff likely to fall tomorrow night and Friday.

NI travellers using Dublin Airport need to heed the Met Éireann reports that temperatures will drop once again over the next few days and reports that while conditions are not expected to be a severe as they were over the Christmas period, snow and sleet are on the way.

Snow and ice crews are on standby at Dublin Airport and gritters have already begun some preparatory measures.

The spells of exceptionally cold weather during December brought some of the lowest temperatures ever recorded in Ireland, together with heavy snowfalls in places.

Mean air temperatures for the month were up to six degrees lower than normal in places and it was the coldest December on record almost everywhere.

It was also the coldest of any month at Dublin Airport, Casement Aerodrome and Mullingar, each with over 50 years of record.

The lowest December air temperature ever measured in the Republic, -17.5°C, was recorded at the climatological station of Straide, Co Mayo, on Christmas Day, a temperature equalled just before the festive break in Castlederg, Co Tyrone as NI struggled to beat the big freeze.

Overall, last year across Ireland was colder, drier and much sunnier than normal. Mean annual air temperatures were below normal everywhere, by around half a degree generally, and it was the coldest year since 1986 at most stations.

The months of January, February and November were the coldest for at least 25 years, while December was the coldest on record.

Despite the relatively low annual air temperatures in Ireland, global temperatures were again above the 1961-1990 annual average, as they have been for each year since 1983.

According to data compiled by the World Meteorological Organisation, the year 2010 is almost certain to rank in the top three warmest years since the beginning of instrumental climate records in 1850, with global combined sea surface and land surface air temperatures around 0.5°C above normal.

(BMcC/GK)