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Snow in Claremorris, Co Mayo this morning Damhnait White

LIVE: Transport impacted across West, Midlands and South-West with lying snow in some areas

Rural roads in some areas are impassable and there’s spot flooding in parts of Munster.

LAST UPDATE | 34 mins ago

ROAD USERS ARE being urged to take extra care in areas affected by this morning’s wintry weather. 

Rural roads in some areas are impassable with lying snow across parts of the Midlands, West and Southwest. 

Much of the rest of the country was expecting to be unaffected by the snowfall.

However, Met Éireann has now issued a Status Yellow weather warning for snow and ice in all of Munster, as well as Carlow, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Offaly, Westmeath, Wexford, Wicklow, Galway, Mayo, and Roscommon.

This will be in place until midday today. 

Updates from Mairead Maguire (now) and Daragh Brophy (earlier).

Cork County Council’s Severe Weather Assessment Team met this morning amid the Status Orange weather warning, which remains in place until midday. 

In a statement, it said: “Heavy rain overnight has transitioned to sleet and snow leading to dangerous driving conditions across the county. The worst affected areas include Newmarket, Rockchapel, Charleville, Mitchelstown, Macroom, Millstreet and Coachford.

“Council crews carried out pre-emptive gritting overnight and have been repeating salting and gritting since early this morning. Snow ploughs have also been deployed where required and crews are progressing on a priority basis.

“Motorists are being urged to drive with extreme care even on roads that have been gritted. Hazardous driving conditions may persist throughout the day.”

Issues with roads can be reported to your local Council Office, which can be found on www.corkcoco.ie.

Iarnród Éireann is still reporting disruptions to multiple services. Here’s the update as of 9am.

The weather has also impacted some local radio stations that are being used by people to keep up with the weather.

Midwest Radio in Co Mayo has reported that some of its frequencies are down due to the weather.

My colleague Diarmuid Pepper has the latest on power outages:

Thousands of people are without power this morning due to the snow.

Across Mayo, 1,274 customers are without power in Swinford, and the ESB said it is hoping to get power restored here as soon as possible.

Some 1,258 customers are also without power in Castlebar, 248 in Achill, 115 in Kiltimagh, 76 in Westport and 27 in Newport.

There are also power outages across other counties, with 2,629 customers impacted in Abbeyfeale in Limerick, near the border with Kerry.

And across Clare, some 441 customers are without powers in Ennistymon, 475 are without power in Kilkee, and a further 475 are impacted in Kilrush.

Meanwhile, 320 are without power in MacDonagh in Kilkenny and in Galway, 112 customers are without power in Athenry, and 30 are without power in Roscommon’s Ballaghaderreen.

Snowy snaps

We asked readers to send their photos of this morning’s wintery weather, and they didn’t dissapoint!

If you have a snowy snap you want to share, you can send it to us at pictures@thejournal.ie 

Eric Hennelly Flanagan in Foxford, Co Mayo 

Damhait White in Claremorris, Co Mayo

Dawn’s “winter wonderland” in Kilcummin, Killarney, Co Kerry

Helen Cusack in Westport, Co Mayo

Karen Usher in Inagh, Co Clare

Iarnród Éireann has issued an update on Banteer Station. Services should resume shortly.

Mayo County Council has warned drivers of overhead cables hanging low.

Power outages in Mayo

The weather has caused widespread power outages across Mayo. An estimated 4000 customers are affected.

Mid West Radio has an area-by-area breakdown.

Swinford – 1274 customers affected
Knockaphunta (Castlebar) – 1258
Clifden – 931
Achill – 248
Westport – 76
Kiltimagh – 74
Cloonfad – 34
Knock – 32
Glenhest – 27
Ballaghaderreen – 25

For updates on power outages and estimated restoration times, check out ESB Power Check

Down south, alongside icy conditions, there are fears of flooding.

Cork County Council last night gritted roads. You can find a map of the routes covered at this link.

It warned that while priority routes have been treated, conditions remain hazardous even where roads are gritted.

Was your area affected by the wintry weather? 

Please send your photos to pictures@thejournal.ie

There are reports of diversions in place on the N59 between Moycullen and Oughterard after a truck jackknifed at Rosscahill. 

There’s been a number of crashes in areas affected by the wintry weather this morning. 

Vehicles involved in a collision on the M6/N6 between J16 (Louthrea) and J17 (Athenry) have now been moved to the hard shoulder. 

There’s also disruption on the same route between junctions 14 and 15, following a crash. 

Meanwhile, Irish Rail staff are still working to get that Dublin train out of the station at Westport.

Here’s why: 

Most Irish Rail services are running as normal, with a few exceptions. 

Some cancellations of Bus Éireann routes: 

Route 419
06:40 Galway to Oughtergard – Terminated in Moycullen
07:20 Oughterard to Galway- Commenced in Moycullen

Route: 22
07:00 Dublin to Ballina – Cancelled

Route 440
06:35 Athlone to Westport – will operate to Castlerea
06:55 Westport to Athlone – Cancelled

Route 336
06:05 Doonbeg to Ennis – Cancelled
07:05 Doonbeg to Ennis – Cancelled

Route 333
07:20 Kilkee to Ennis – Cancelled

A number of other routes are also cancelled or terminating early – you can find details here.

Met Éireann’s Siobhán Ryan has given an update on Radio 1′s Morning Ireland just now. 

The wintery showers are transitioning from snow to sleet over the south of Munster at the moment, with some large pools of water on roads as a result. 

While it’s been dry across the northern half of the country, there is lying snow in the Midlands, West and South Midlands. 

While snow may remain in place this afternoon, the wintry showers will die out and we’re in for a cold clear day in many areas, Ryan said. 

Good morning, 

We’re starting to get reports of impassable roads, trees down and spot flooding in places after snow, sleet and rain swept in from the west yesterday. 

The wintry weather left significant parts of the country untouched, but transport is expected to be affected in the areas that were hit by the snow. 

There are yellow warnings in place across the country. 

Orange warnings are in place in these areas: 

Status Orange – Snow-Ice warning for Clare, Limerick, Tipperary, Galway

  • Significant snowfall accumulations expected.
  • Very difficult travelling conditions
  • Poor visibility
  • Travel disruption
  • Disruption and delays to public transport
  • likely (air, rail, bus)
  • Difficult conditions underfoot
  • Animal welfare issues

Status Orange – Snow and Rain warning for Cork, Waterford

  • Heavy rain transitioning to sleet and snow.
  • Very difficult travelling conditions
  • Poor visibility
  • Travel disruption
  • Disruption and delays to public transport
  • likely (air, rail, bus)
  • Difficult conditions underfoot
  • Animal welfare issues
  • Flooding possible

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