FREEZING START TO THE YEAR CONTINUES ACROSS COUNTRY

THE country was frozen in an icy grip again overnight - but the cold snap turned Ireland into a winter wonderland.

- BY CATHAL RYAN and SARAH MAGLIOCCO

Snappers captured stunning images as the year got off to a freezing start.

However, the weather also sparked some school closures and travel disruption, with bookmakers slashing odds on January becoming the coldest one on record.

A couple of hundred primary and secondary schools in the North and all those in the Finn Valley area in Co Donegal did not reopen yesterday morning after the Christmas break due to the severe weather.

Met Eireann issued overnight warnings that were due to expire at 9am this morning.

The forecaster issued a Status Yellow low temperature/ice warning for Leinster, Cavan, Monaghan, Munster, Galway and Roscommon.

SHARP

Temperatures fell to between -1C and -3C with sharp frost, icy stretches and the possibility of black ice.

Cathal Nolan, of Ireland's Weather Channel, warned that the cold conditions and combination of rain and freezing temperatures could lead to some treacherous driving situations, with icy temperatures looking set to dominate for the week.

"In terms of the forecast, it becomes a little bit less cold over the next couple of days," he said.

"We see a front pushing in later on through the early hours of Tuesday morning. That front pushes in, a little hill sleet possible in places, but generally speaking it's going to fall as rain.

"Unfortunately, that looks to clear away Tuesday evening and overnight, allowing temperatures to drop back below freezing.