Written By Shane Wilson-Buckley
One thing i think everyone has noticed over the last few years is ireland changing weather, As it seems our climate is
getting much colder in winter and far hotter summers, Last night was one of the coldest on record on the island of Ireland.
The temperature in Foxford, Co Mayo, dropped to -17.2C, while Castlederg in Co Tyrone recorded a temperature of -18C.
Winter 2010-2011 has been once of the harshest predicted as we have gotten snow in november for the first time ever,
and then again more snowfalls this week are predicted to continue into the new year, some reports of the chaos caused
across european airports are described as follows, Hundreds of thousands of passengers are stranded across Europe after
harsh weather conditions forced airports to close or severely disrupted flight schedules.
Siobhan Moore of the Dublin Airport Authority says knock-on delays and cancellations are likely throughout the day because
of the impact of snow and ice on flight schedules at other European airports.
Gatwick, Stansted, Edinburgh and Southampton airports in Britain are open but delays or cancellations can be expected.
London's Heathrow Airport reopened at 6am following severe restrictions on flights over the weekend.
Hundreds of travellers are stranded at Frankfurt Airport in Germany following the cancellation of almost 500 flights.
In France, Charles de Gaulle Airport is closed due to heavy snowfall. Flights were due to resume at 12pm and priority is to
be given to departing flights.
Flights have also been cancelled or delayed in Spain, the Netherlands and Croatia.
P&O Irish Sea services on the Dublin-Liverpool route are currently operating on schedule.
Dangerous driving conditions
Met Éireann is forecasting another day of sub-zero temperatures and snow showers, with ice making driving conditions very
dangerous around the country.
It said there will be a widespread severe frost and pockets of freezing fog will be slow to clear. Snow showers are likely
in coastal areas of the north and east.
Pat Clarke of Met Éireann said the weather will be dry and very cold in the days before Christmas, but there may be a
slight thaw on Christmas Eve.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Sean Hogan, chairman of the severe weather national co-ordination committee, said there
are 10,000 tonnes of salt left to clear roads across the country.
An extra 4,000 tonnes are due to arrive later this week and Mr Hogan said it should be enough to cover the current severe
cold spell.
However, salt supplies are said to be at a critical level in Co Donegal and it is only being used on priority one routes.
The NRA said individual local authorities do not need approval to purchase their own salt stocks.
NRA Spokesperson Sean O'Neill has said that the NRA and County Council are doing what has to be done to keep roads treated.
He said that there will be 25,000 tonnes of salt in the country by Christmas, with a delivery due into Cork Port mid-week.
130 trucks have been arranged to distribute the salt from the shipment when it arrives into port.
As we can see Irelands climate is obviously heading for the worst as the years go on, i have enclosed a picture of what
ireland looks like today 20th of decembr 2010.
