Northern Ireland

Icy conditions continue to impact travel and schools

A yellow warning for ice is in place until 10am on Friday

Drivers have been urged to stick to major roads that have been cleared and gritted
Icy conditions continue to impact travel and schools on Friday. (Gareth Fuller/PA)
By Mark Robinson

Wintery weather continued to cause disruption on Friday morning as several schools decided to close while ice made for ‘difficult’ driving conditions.

A met office warning for ice in parts of counties Antrim, Derry, Down and Tyrone remains in place until 10am on Friday as this week’s cold snap continues.

Yet again, a number of schools announced that they would be closing on Friday.

More: New ice warning issued for Northern Ireland

According to the NI Direct website (as of 8.50am), a handful of schools closed on Friday due to adverse weather conditions.

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PACEMAKER, BELFAST, 3/1/2025: A man walks his dog along a snow covered lane in the Sperrin Mountains today. More snow is forecast for the weekend. PICTURE BY STEPHEN DAVISON
A man walking his dog along a snow covered lane in the Sperrin Mountains earlier this week. PICTURE BY STEPHEN DAVISON/PACEMAKER

These included Ballougry Primary School and Rossmar School in Co Derry, Artigarvan Primary School in Co Tyrone and Belleek No 2 Primary School in Co Fermanagh.

St Patrick’s Primary School Rasharkin in Co Antrim and St Theresa’s Primary School Glebe in Co Tyrone were both closed due to heating issues.

A number of schools which had previously closed this week decided to open on Friday, however they asked parents to make their own judgement regarding safety of travel.

As icy conditions lingered on Friday morning, police urged drivers to continue to take care on roads – particularly those which are unsalted.

“Freezing temperatures throughout Northern Ireland this morning have caused difficult driving conditions in many areas,” a spokesperson said.

“Please slow down and increase your stopping distance from the vehicle in front. If you’re travelling in an area where the roads are not salted, please exercise extra caution.”

In Co Down, drivers are asked to slow down and approach Main Street in Ballywalter with care after a water main burst. According to TrafficWatchNI, this has been reported to NI Water.

On Thursday, Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd thanked staff on the winter service team for their work salting the 7,000km of road on the schedule this week.

“On average 49,200 tonnes of salt is used each winter. And this season has already seen 42,580 tonnes of salt used,” he said.

“Since 1 January our teams have carried out 2,262 route treatments across the network. This has required the commitment of over 320 staff and 130 gritters and in theory this means that 28% of the road network is salted, directly benefiting around 80% of road users.

“Where resources allowed, we have also carried out salting of some rural roads not on the schedule to assist pupils traveling to some of our more rural schools.

“This is not an easy job. We need to remember that these men and women leave their homes and families, often during the night and are regularly the first to drive along untreated roads in difficult conditions to make routes safer for us to travel and I want to thank them for doing so.”

Meanwhile in the Republic, the low temperature and ice warning which has been in place all week will come to an end at midday as temperatures are expected to start to rise heading into the weekend.