Help Support Cork Safety Alerts – Donate the price of a coffee here via Stripe: https://csalert.ie/donate
Cork County Council’s Severe Weather Assessment team convened this afternoon as severe weather continues to cause dangerous road conditions across the county.
Met Éireann has issued a series of Status Orange Low Temperature/Ice warnings for Cork from 8.00pm tonight until 10.00am tomorrow morning and from 6.00pm tomorrow (Wednesday) until 11.00am on Thursday morning.
The potential impacts include dangerous travelling conditions on roads and underfoot, travel disruption and delays, and animal welfare issues.
A Status Yellow Low Temperature/Ice warning also remains in place until 6.00am on Friday the 10th of January.
Cork County Council is deploying all of its resources to treat priority routes however the advice remains not to undertake any unnecessary journeys. There is widespread ice and hazardous driving conditions even on routes that have been treated.
Air and road surface temperatures are expected to drop significantly again this evening and temperatures will remain very low throughout the week leading to very challenging driving conditions.
Cork County Fire Service and Council crews have attended incidents today where trucks became stuck on regional roads in both North and West Cork. There are diversions in place westbound on the R585 in West Cork due to icy conditions and extreme caution is required even on primary routes in North and North-West Cork with many local and regional roads impassible in places. The R579 Banteer to Nadd road remains closed.
If your journey is essential, please slow down, drive with caution, and be aware of other road users. Allow extra time for your journey. If a road has been treated by a gritter or snowplough, do not assume that the road is safe to travel. There may still be underlying snow or ice which would make the road hazardous.
Cork County Council’s Emergency Line remains open on 021 4800048 to report any issues.
A full list of priority road treatment routes is available here: https://www.corkcoco.ie/sites/default/files/2025-01/cork-county-council-road-treatment-routes.pdf
Key Public Safety Messages:
- Check on elderly, vulnerable and isolated neighbours
- Wintry showers and icy surfaces will lead to difficult travel conditions
- Road conditions will be hazardous, even where roads are gritted, slow down, drive with caution, be aware of other road users and allow extra time for your journey.
- Cyclists need to exercise extreme caution during this cold weather spell. While key arterial routes are being gritted nightly, there are many cycle routes that may not be gritted.
- Drivers travelling longer journeys are advised to be aware of conditions right along their route, as the weather may vary significantly across different parts of the country.
- Public transport may also be affected by this spell of wintry weather; people are advised to check with service operators for the latest updates in their area.
- Take extra care while walking: footpaths etc. can be extremely hazardous/slippery due to ice
- Keep your phone charged and take it with you on all journeys. In an emergency dial 999 or 112
- All disruptions to HSE services are on the hse.ie homepage and it is being regularly updated on HSE social media channels https://www.hse.ie
- The Be Winter Ready website https://www.gov.ie/en/campaigns/aa78b9-be-winter-ready provides further advice on preparing for severe weather.
- ESB Emergency Services can be contacted at 1800 372 999. The public can monitor www.PowerCheck.ie.
- Uisce Éireann Customers can check their website and social media channels for updates and can get in touch with any issues or concerns via its 24/7 customer care centre at 1800 278 278. People can also sign up online to free text alert system to get regular updates about their local supplies – see www.water.ie. People are advised to conserve water
- Farmers are advised to take all precautions when dealing with livestock and possibly working alone.
- Those travelling by air should allow plenty of time for their journey. Passengers seeking updates regarding specific flights should contact their airline directly.
- Monitor Met Éireann forecasts and/or visit https://www.met.ie/ for the most up to date information. Information is available across social media platforms and other news media sources.