Met Éireann issues two status orange snow warnings as further school closures not ruled out
People attempting to push a car in the snow between Ennis and Kilrush in Co Clare. Picture: Eamon Ward
Two status orange weather warnings have been issued by Met Éireann as another cold night is expected to set in on Thursday.
A status orange snow and ice warning is in place for Cavan, Donegal, Monaghan, Clare, Connacht, Longford, Louth, Meath, Westmeath until midnight.
Met Éireann has warned of travel disruption, hazardous road conditions and poor visibility in places.
According to the forecaster there will be further spells of sleet and snow combined with strong east to northeast winds.
They say significant accumulations of snow are expected in some areas along with icy conditions.
Meanwhile, a status orange snow and ice alert comes into effect at midnight for Leinster, with snowfall and significant accumulations expected.
This warning will end at 10am tomorrow.
A status yellow snow and Ice warning for the whole country will remain in place until midday on Friday.
A number of schools around the country closed on Thursday and further closures have not been ruled out.
Chair of the National Emergency Co-ordination group, Keith Leonard said: "There's definitely a question mark over schools opening everywhere but it will be hard to know exactly which schools will be effected.
"Principals will make that decision tomorrow, based on the local conditions," he told RTÉ News.
Temperatures will reach lows of -4C on Thursday night, with the coldest weather in the west.
"Cold and windy at first tonight with falls of sleet and snow in many areas giving rise to very poor visibility and hazardous road conditions," said Met Éireann.
"The sleet and snow will continue overnight over the eastern half of the country, but it will become drier further west with frost and ice developing under clear breaks."
Friday will see another cold day, but it will be mostly dry with sunny spells. And while Friday night will see temperatures fall to -3C in some parts, temperatures look set to rise over the rest of the weekend.
On Saturday, afternoon temperatures will range from 1C to 2C in the north and 12C or 13C degrees in the southwest.
The last of the rain and sleet will clear the northeast early on Saturday night. Minimum temperatures of 2C to 6C will occur early on with temperatures ranging 4C to 8C overnight.
Sunday will be wet and windy, but there will be much milder temperatures. Forecasters are expecting afternoon highs of 10C to 14C, with lows of 6C to 9C at night. Sunday night will see windy conditions set in with "showers or longer spells of rain".
It comes as six people were rescued from Carrauntoohil on Wednesday night in an eight-hour operation.
One woman found herself stuck on top of Carrauntoohil in the midst of heavy snowfall.
She was rescued from Ireland's highest mountain in the early hours of this morning, after falling and injuring herself.
The woman was among a party of six stuck in a gully in the Hags Glen area. They were coming down a steep gully adjacent to The Bone when they made a navigational error and took a wrong turn and ended up stuck in the gully.
The full rescue team was called out at 4.15pm Wednesday and assembled, spokesman Gerry Christie of Kerry Mountain Rescue said.
The party had to be led 200 meters up the mountain again before being led safely down to Cronin's Yard.
The group were brought to safety at 1.30am by 26 members of Kerry Mountain Rescue.
Conditions on the mountains are "extremely challenging", rescuers said.
"Apart from being very cold and fatigued, thankfully none of the casualties were injured," a spokesperson said.
Mr Christie described the rescue as "a long and difficult operation".
He also rejected condemnation on radio and social media about the people going on the mountain in the first place on Wednesday when the forecast was so poor and there were weather warnings.
The mountain was not particularly treacherous at the time and some climbers liked to go up in snow conditions, he said.
Elsewhere in Co Clare, two minor collisions were reported on the Kilrush Road outside Lisseycasey owing to the weather conditions.
Check out the Irish Examiner's WEATHER CENTRE for regularly updated short and long range forecasts wherever you are.
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