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LAST UPDATE | 1 Mar 2024
THE SUDDEN SNOWFALL over much of the country this morning has caused disruption for roads, schools and public transport.
A Status Yellow snow and ice warning which was in place for Cavan, Monaghan, Dublin, Kildare, Longford, Westmeath, Leitrim, Roscommon, Sligo and Wicklow has lifted, but another ice warning has taken effect for the whole country tonight until tomorrow morning.
A Status Yellow rain warning is also in place for Dublin, Louth, Meath and Wicklow until 3am Saturday.
Met Éireann has warned there is a risk of hazardous travelling conditions, poor visibility and icy stretches in affected counties.
Dart services between Lansdowne Road and Bray have resumed following earlier disruption due to fallen trees and snow affecting points along the line.
Commuter train services arriving and departing from Heuston Station are moving with some delays, while there are “significant delays and disruption” at Connolly station due to weather impacting signalling, according to Iarnród Éireann.
Dublin Bus has alerted commuters that a number of routes which were affected have resumed normal service.
However, Route 44 is operating to and from Kilternan only. It’s unable to serve Enniskerry, Larkhill and Sandyford Village.
Red Line Luas services are back operating normally after delays earlier.
On the roads, Junction 13 of the M50 in Dublin was closed in both directions earlier due to heavy snowfall but has reopened.
Traffic backed up on approach to Dublin from Howth road direction because of snow. Enterprise train comes to a halt at Clontarf station because of backlog @ Connolly & conductor tells us the driver has taken a wrong turn and we are now in Norway!!! 😊 @Translink_NI @IrishRail pic.twitter.com/DjX5UJK5si
— Michael Fisher (@fishbelfast) March 1, 2024
Wicklow County Council has issued a number of alerts for people travelling, with several roads in poor or impassable conditions. The Wicklow Gap and the Sally Gap in particular should be avoided.
South Dublin County Council has closed Military Road near the Wicklow Mountains due to the conditions.
Wicklow County Council wishes to advise motorists to avoid the Wicklow Gap and the Sally Gap due to the adverse weather conditions. #WicklowCountyCouncil #YourCouncil #WicklowMunicipalDistrict pic.twitter.com/7OLJNZhUva
— Wicklow County Council (@wicklowcoco) March 1, 2024
Some roads in Longford have been partially blocked, according to Longford County Council. The N55 and R194 were the worst impacted, while the N4 “appears passable with care”.
The Far Finisklin Road in Sligo was closed earlier this morning due to a fallen tree, but it has since been cleared and the road has reopened.
Met Éireann meteorologist Brandon Creagh has said it was not clear to forecasters until this morning that the snow would be as heavy and widespread at it has been.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne, Creagh said that models had originally expected the eastern half of the country to be hit with rain.
“They were predicting that the front that would move down and would turn to sleet or snow over higher ground, so we added into the warning that a mix of sleet or snow at times could lead to hazardous travelling conditions because of that risk,” Creagh said.
He said that snow is “notorious” for being the most difficult type of weather to forecast for in Ireland.
“If we had a crystal ball that we knew exactly what was going to happen, maybe that would have been an Orange warning, but given the risk at the time – we do not take our warnings lightly at all and we cannot over warn otherwise people will not believe the orange warning when they come,” he said.
A number of schools in affected counties have closed, though others remain open.
In Leitrim, which experienced heavy snow, several primary and secondary schools reported closures, including Carrick-on-Shannon Community School, St Brigid National School, and Lough Allen College.
In neighbouring Longford, many schools have also closed, including in Ballymahon, Longford town and Moyne.
St Mogue’s College in west Cavan said it would stay closed today, noting that buses are not running and power has been lost in the Bawnboy area, where St Aidan’s National School has also closed.
Holy Trinity Primary and Nursery School in Enniskillen wrote on social media that it will be closed today due to “safety concerns” amid heavy snow. Jones Memorial Primary School, also in Enniskillen, has likewise closed.
Many other schools in affected counties have similarly taken the decision to not open this morning or have sent students home early.
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“All the lefties refusing to make snowmen as snow is white”
@Andrew Martin: How profound of you.
@Andrew Martin: Not if it’s yellow.
@Andrew Martin: ahem *snow people*… there’s 98 genders nowadays. We wouldn’t want to upset the wokies lol
@Finn Barr: just because you identify as a bird doesn’t mean you can fly….
@brian o’leary: You mean, like penguins?
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: no, the other 99.5% :)
@Andrew Martin: clown.
@Ian: snowflake
If your one of those people who really shouldn’t be out on roads like this, just call it in. Please.
Ti’s can. Be where is the global warming
Snow? It’s miserably wet and windy here. :o
@Kieran Menon: They get a bit of snow in Dublin and they act like the world is ending.
Here in Athy, which is adjunct to the allegedly “sunny south east” we are amazed at all the fuss about an hour or so of light snowfall while the two or three inches that has fallen in Dublin is treated as a national disaster as thousands of dubs are encased in their mobile metal boxes in traffic jams for an hour or two. Yawn… Would this be news outside the confines of our overprivileged neighbours to the north east obsessed as they are in sitting in traffic jams at any and perhaps all times of every winter and summer for any number of reasons that make sense to their own car obsessed economy? The same roads exist now as 50 or 100 years ago in Dublin. The insane residents of that benighted city imagine that they can increase the number of motor vehicles using those roads on a yearly basis and still be able to move efficiently from point A to point B. An inch or two of snow undoes all their plans.
4 hours of snow reduces our capital city to even more transport chaos than usual
P.S. – I have large quantities of bread milk & loo roll for sale. All reasonable offers accepted
@Gerry Kelly: Nice try. This is the time of year when I take the opportunity to clear out & defrost the freezer though! At least you can’t go wrong with loo rolls; they keep well. Offer the bread to the birds ;-)
What makes snowfall “sudden”?
We all expected it around here. Was it because Meth Eireann were, as usual, caught napping? Perhaps if they gave up on the yellow and red BS and went back to forecasting they would reach an acceptable level of accuracy.
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