Snow hits Northern Ireland on first day of meteorological spring

Today marks the first day of meteorological Spring but many people woke up to a blanket of snow across counties Fermanagh, Tyrone and Armagh.

The Met Office released a yellow warning for snow overnight as wintry conditions moved in.

Daffodils and snowdrops are already in bloom following a mild February but it was a different scene this morning.

There were reports of difficulties on the roads after a number of vehicles reportedly became stuck in the snow overnight in the Enniskillen area with police asking motorists to exercise caution.

The wintry weather will be short lived and the snow isn’t expected to linger due to the recent mild temperatures.

As it’s the first day of Spring, according to the meteorological calendar, there will be a noticeable stretch in the evening, with sunset at 6.03pm from Saturday, but the weather will remain rather unsettled into the early part of next week.

Met Eireann had also issued weather warnings for more than a dozen counties on Friday morning.

It said temporary accumulations of snow and falls of sleet had the potential to cause poor visibility and hazardous travelling conditions amid icy stretches on untreated roads.

A status yellow warning for snow and ice was in place until 10am on Friday morning for Cavan, Monaghan, Kildare, Longford, Westmeath, Leitrim, Roscommon and Sligo.

A snow warning for Donegal expired earlier.

A separate yellow rain warning with the risk of localised flooding is in place for Dublin, Louth, Meath and Wicklow to expire at 3am on Saturday.

The forecaster said there will be persistent rain, with a mix of sleet and snow at times.

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