Snowfall hits flights and roads

The runway at George Best Belfast City Airport was closed for a time

Up to 10 centimetres of snow has fallen in some parts of Northern Ireland causing disruption to flights and forcing the closure of 32 schools.

George Best Belfast City Airport had to work through a backlog of flights after closing its runway on Thursday.

Public transport company Translink also warned of delays to services.

The snowfalls, which mostly effected eastern counties of Northern Ireland, also closed down Belfast Zoo for the day.

SNOW PICTURE GALLERY In pictures: Snowfall Send your snow pictures to the BBC NI news website at [email protected] - terms and conditions apply, see www.bbc.co.uk/terms

Many schools closed due to health and safety reasons.

Wellington College in Belfast said that by 0845 GMT only 50 pupils and 14 staff had arrived in school and they believed there would not be enough staff to safely look after children.

There were also minor skidding incidents involving buses bringing children to school. Parents were contacted to collect pupils who did turn up.

Other schools had problems with heating systems, resulting in classrooms being too cold.

Areas of high ground, especially in the north, were worst affected and snow ploughs were being used in those areas.

The M2 motorway into Belfast was described by police as being "bumper to bumper" from the A57 Templepatrick entrance.

The Upper Crumlin Road and Hightown Road were also described as impassable, with police advising motorists to not go over Cavehill.

The forecast for Thursday night and Friday is cold and icy with temperatures as low as minus 4 Celsius in some rural areas.

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