Hundreds of homes without power as storm Bella hits Ireland with snow and ice warnings issued

A yellow snow and ice status warning was issued for Donegal and Leitrim, while hundreds of homes were without power after Storm Bella hit Ireland.

Parts of the country will be hit by sleet and possibly heavy snow today with a 14-hour warning for the northwest of the country.

Leitrim and Donegal will be under yellow snow / ice warning status from 6am today to 8pm Sunday night.

The warning is in effect until 8pm tonight.

The warning reads: “Winter rains on Sunday with some possible accumulations. Risk of icy sections on untreated surfaces.”

There are also Status Yellow ice and snow advisories for Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Tyrone, and Derry, valid until 3pm today.

The UK Met Office has warned that icy surfaces are likely in many parts of Northern Ireland, making travel conditions difficult.

Later tonight, a new state yellow warning will be implemented in the north from 6 p.m. to 10 a.m. Monday.

“An area of ​​rain, sleet and snow will move south through Sunday night with the potential for icy surfaces and some travel disruptions,” the UK Met Office said.

Several hundred Irish homes are without electricity.

ESB’s PowerCheck website says about 104 homes are without power in Ennis, Co Clare and 112 more outages in Cappamore, Co Limerick.

In Co Kildare, there are 106 customers without power in Kilcock, while in Cork, there are several homes in Dunmanway, Bandon and Glengarriff also affected.

Most of the remaining power outages are spread across Wicklow, Waterford, Mayo, Roscommon, Donegal, and Kerry counties.

According to Powercheck.ie, the ESB expects power to be back in all homes later this morning.

Any other warnings will be reported here in the Irish Mirror throughout the day, but while the rest of the country has escaped warnings so far, there could still be more snow.

A forecaster from Met Eireann said: “Sunday will be a very cold and windy day with spells of sunshine and frequent rain, some with the risk of hail, sleet or snow.

“Heavy rains can merge into bands extending from the northwest at night. Highest afternoon temperatures only 3 to 7 degrees with moderate to cool gusty westerlies.

“A band of downpours will move southeast over the country early Sunday night, turning to sleet and snow in the north and east.

“This will be followed by mostly dry and clear overnight conditions, although scattered winter rains will persist in the northwest and west. Cool to strong winds from the northwest, possibly becoming very strong in the southwest. Cold with lows of -2 to + 2 degrees. “

And it is forecast to cool further on the week with temperatures of -4 ° C forecast Tuesday night with more flurries of snow possible.

The mercury will stay below 0 ° C every night for the first half of the week, although that could all change as the weekend rolls around.