A status orange wind warning for Co Donegal has been issued by Met Éireann.
The warning, which is due to take effect from 4pm on Thursday, is set to be in place until 7pm the same day.
Strong to gale force west to northwest winds are expected with severe gusts of up to 130 km/hr.
Wind warning for Donegal 🌬️
Valid: 16:00 Thursday to 19:00 Thursday 24/02/2022
Poss impacts
Loose objects displaced
Fallen trees poss 🌳
Large coastal waves expected🌊
Difficult driving conditions 🚗
Dangerous conditions at sea
All active warnings ➡️ https://t.co/Xg3aMJlyuS pic.twitter.com/8BIAskDoHy— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) February 24, 2022
Meanwhile, a status yellow wind warning has been issued for counties Donegal, Leitrim, and Sligo from 1pm on Thursday until 8pm on Thursday evening.
Strong winds are forecast with gusts to reach speeds of 110 km/hr, while higher gusts are expected in Co Donegal in the late afternoon and in coastal areas too.
Co Mayo has also been issued with a yellow wind warning which is in place from 12pm to 6pm on Thursday.
The wind warnings come following snow and ice warnings which were issued on Wednesday for the entire country.
Motorists were warned of hazardous driving conditions while several schools were forced to close and travellers faced disruption after much of Northern Ireland was blanketed by overnight snow.
Counties Fermanagh, Tyrone, Derry and Antrim were worst hit by the wintry conditions.
People in Belfast also woke up to snowy scenes on Thursday morning.
Public transport services were disrupted in the early part of the morning as buses in the Co Tyrone town of Dungannon were suspended entirely for a period due to the poor conditions.
A yellow snow warning is due to remain in place until 8pm on Thursday. The Met Office also warned of the potential of lightning.
⚠️ Yellow weather warning issued ⚠️
Ice across Northern Ireland
Thursday 2000 – Friday 0900
Latest info 👉 https://t.co/QwDLMfRBfs
Stay #WeatherAware⚠️ pic.twitter.com/l4i2skzgxz— Met Office (@metoffice) February 24, 2022
In a Twitter post on Thursday morning, Translink said: “Due to poor weather conditions please allow for delays/adjustments to journeys in your area this morning.”
Salting and ploughing works were undertaken across the roads network early on Thursday.
TrafficWatch NI warned motorists of “difficult driving conditions”.
“Additional salting being carried out throughout the province this morning – road users are advised to slow down and allow extra time for their journeys,” the roads information service tweeted.
A number of schools in different parts of Northern Ireland were unable to open on Thursday morning due to the snow.
The snowfall came after a period of extreme weather conditions on the island of Ireland following a series of storms over the last week.
-Additional reporting by PA
