THOUSANDS OF frustrated air travellers will today make last-minute efforts to complete their travel plans for Christmas amid some of the most challenging weather conditions in half a century.
Today will be another extremely cold day and the freezing conditions are set to continue through Christmas Day, according to Met Éireann. It said freezing fog will persist right through Christmas Day in places, but otherwise the day will be dry and bright.
Outbreaks of rain, sleet and snow will start to develop along the west coast early on St Stephens morning. It may snow heavily for a time but by late on Sunday the snow will have turned back to rain. Finally, on Sunday night, temperatures will stay above freezing.
Highest temperatures on Monday will reach 5 to 7 degrees, with similar values throughout the week as it continues to thaw.
The thaw will lead to water pooling on the roads and driving will continue to be difficult for some days into next week.
Today, thousands of intending airline passengers - some of whom have been stranded for several days - will know if they will make it to their destinations in time for Christmas.
Dublin airport closed at 9.30am yesterday to clear snow from the runways and reopened at about 1pm. However, Aer Lingus cancelled all inbound flights at 4pm citing an insurmountable backlog.
Then at 6.30pm the airport closed again, initially for an hour but this was extended to 11pm. Talks were ongoing last night about whether the airport would open tomorrow to facilitate special flights to bring people home.
Ireland West Knock, Cork and Shannon airports were all operational yesterday with some delays.
The biggest movement of people today is expected to be on land with authorities advising people to switch to public transport and only travel by car if absolutely necessary.
Gardaí said roads were in a treacherous condition across the country and advised motorists who must travel to organise a car pool if possible and only drive during daylight hours.
Gardaí also said the coming thaw did not mean roads would be safe.
Iarnród Éireann said it expects about 300,000 passengers over the holiday season, and all its services were expected to run, although with some delays.
A spokesman said the busiest time would be up to lunchtime today. He advised intending passengers to arrive early.
Bus Éireann said most of its services were running. The company is to operate a limited inter-city service to and from Dublin (Busáras) and Dublin airport to main destinations around the island tomorrow.
Services will operate to and from Limerick, Belfast, Cork, Galway, Rosslare Harbour, Ballina, Sligo, Waterford, Letterkenny, Donegal, Clonmel and Derry. All services will operate via the main towns en route.
In Dublin, extra Luas trams will operate today and the Dart system is expected to be operating with slight delays.
The Big Chill: reports, page 8
