In Larne, the 158 service will not operate until further notice<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766890833_711_grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"Reuters](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/77e49470-ea44-11f0-8294-25e87582e814.jpg.webp.webp\")
Reuters<\/p>\n
Shoppers in Ballymena were up against thick snow while bringing their items home<\/p>\n
Matthew Craig is balancing childcare and farming in Donemana<\/p>\n
Donemana sheep farmer Matthew Craig said it’s been difficult to get about to feed his animals in recent days. <\/p>\n
“It’s really been like an ice rink,” he said.<\/p>\n
Craig is also balancing childcare and farming as daughters Anna and Beth have been off school, while their mum has been working.<\/p>\n
‘It isn’t an easy decision’<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/06cd4c90-eaea-11f0-8a5c-81e1c85f6b52.jpg.webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n
Brian Guthrie spent time clearing pathways at the school in the hope that it would be able to reopen<\/p>\n
Brian Guthrie, the principal of Ebrington Primary School in Londonderry, had hoped to reopen today but conditions did not allow it.<\/p>\n
“I spent a good bit of time on site yesterday, clearing pathways and so on to make it safe but, unfortunately, as the day went on it seemed more and more schools were making a call to close,” he told BBC Radio Foyle’s North West Today programme.<\/p>\n
He said the Foyle Learning Community \u2013 a network of 13 schools, which includes Foyle College \u2013 made a decision to close last night, so he was left with no choice but to do the same.<\/p>\n
“It isn’t an easy decision and I know it has an impact on parents, the children and learning and apologies for that but it’s really about making sure our school community is safe.”<\/p>\n
![\"Emma](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/5b78ffc0-eafc-11f0-8e8e-7f477e15473f.jpg.webp.webp\")
Emma Tsang<\/p>\n
The Tsang family made the most of the snowy weather and built snowmen<\/p>\n
Emma Tsang has three children and lives in the Ballymoney area.<\/p>\n
A number of local schools have closed, including those attended by her children, as well as their childcare facility.<\/p>\n
Tsang said she respects the decision to close schools, as the safety of children and staff is paramount, but added it was “not ideal”.<\/p>\n
“It’s a difficult situation for working parents to organise alternative childcare at short notice,” she said.<\/p>\n
![\"Ursula](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/11bb87a0-eadd-11f0-97ff-1df4f0d33d7f.png.webp.webp\")
Ursula O’Hanlon<\/p>\n
Ursula O’Hanlon is the principal of a rural school in County Londonderry<\/p>\n
St Brigid’s Primary School in Tirkane in County Londonderry is among the closed schools.<\/p>\n
Its principal Ursula O’Hanlon said the snow and ice has not thawed, and that a decision will be made later on whether the school reopens on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
“Nobody wants to be responsible for opening a school and hearing then that someone had an accident,” she said.<\/p>\n
O’Hanlon said she cannot expect parents to get children to school when buses are not servicing local roads.<\/p>\n
‘Difficulty’ treating rural roads<\/p>\n
Paddy Lavery, a principal engineer at the Department of Infrastructure, said there are more than 300 staff members working to keep the main roads open and safe.<\/p>\n
Lavery said rural schools will always be a “difficulty” but there are special arrangements to treat some roads.<\/p>\n
They follow a scoring mechanism to decide where resources will be deployed.<\/p>\n
This includes assessing whether there has been a history of snow and ice around the school, if there is a bus with over 40 seats travelling to the school and the number of vehicles travelling to the school.<\/p>\n
Lavery said there is an application process for rural roads to be treated, adding that over 50 schools are treated under special arrangements.<\/p>\n
Hospital entrances are also treated under these arrangements. <\/p>\n
![\"Three](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/51746260-eafe-11f0-8e8e-7f477e15473f.jpg.webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n
Scarlett (10), Alesha (6) and Dan (8) enjoying the snow in Cullybackey<\/p>\n
Scarlett,10, Alesha, 6, and Dan, 8, were playing in the snow in Cullybackey.<\/p>\n
“Well what I love about the snow is that I can get it and throw it at him [Dan],” Scarlett told BBC News NI.<\/p>\n
She added that they had sleighs at their granny’s house which is “the best thing”.<\/p>\n
Dan said he likes to throw snowballs at his sister and “push her down in the snow because I know she won’t get hurt”.<\/p>\n
Their father, Steven, said the children are “having a lot of fun” but they do love school.<\/p>\n
![\"Isla](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/8bfcb580-eaff-11f0-8e8e-7f477e15473f.jpg.webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n
Isla Morrey, 10, out for a walk with her grandmother Kimberly Allen at the People’s Park in Ballymena, County Antrim<\/p>\n
In County Down, the Mourne Mountain Rescue Team has been deployed to help health workers and carers make essential calls to patients’ homes.<\/p>\n
Volunteers have been using 4×4 rescue vehicles to transport carers to houses that are difficult to reach in icy weather.<\/p>\n
“A lot of the side roads and laneways and so on have become very treacherous,” said Martin McMullan from the team.<\/p>\n
“There’s obviously a lot of people living in our community now, particularly in the rural community, with quite acute care needs – not just the elderly.”<\/p>\n
Northern Ireland’s Commissioner for Older People, Siobhan Casey, called on people to check on elderly or vulnerable neighbours during the cold snap.<\/p>\n
![\"Mourne](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/7a1e36e0-eaeb-11f0-b385-5f48925de19a.jpg.webp.webp\")
Mourne Mountain Rescue Team<\/p>\n
The health service asked volunteers from the Mourne Mountain Rescue Team to transport essential carers to patients’ homes in rural areas<\/p>\n
NI Water has urged people to be careful around its outdoor sites, particularly reservoirs and dams, where winter conditions can create hazards.<\/p>\n
Reservoir safety and compliance area manager Derek McKane said ice was “nearly always treacherous” and people should not attempt to walk or skate on iced-over reservoirs.<\/p>\n
“Reservoirs are not safe places to play at any time of year, but winter brings extra dangers,” he added.<\/p>\n
![\"NI](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4d29cf50-eb1d-11f0-a6a3-53d02379137e.jpg.webp.webp\")
NI Water<\/p>\n
Altnaheglish Reservoir in County Londonderry during snowy weather<\/p>\n
What is the coldest it’s ever been in Northern Ireland?<\/p>\n
The lowest temperature ever recorded in NI was -18.7C at Castlederg in Tyrone during the big freeze of December 2010.<\/p>\n
The lowest temperature ever recorded on the island of Ireland was -19.1C at Markree in Sligo in January 1881.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pacemaker Some made the most of the snow day at Cavehill Country Park in Belfast A fresh weather…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-678390","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-northern-ireland","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115849991135113363","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Pacemaker](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/9dfd5bd0-ea47-11f0-a4c4-1d0f54763880.jpg.webp.webp\")
Pacemaker<\/p>\n![\"Ruair\u00ed](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/a8927820-eaef-11f0-8a5c-81e1c85f6b52.jpg.webp.webp\")
Ruair\u00ed McHugh<\/p>\n