Ice and snow warning extended across Northern Ireland

A yellow weather warning for snow and ice has been issued across Northern Ireland from noon on Tuesday until noon on Wednesday

The Met Office has warned of further disruption due to snow and ice over the next few days.

A yellow weather warning for snow and ice has been issued across Northern Ireland until noon on Wednesday.

Snow showers are forecast to continue overnight on Tuesday and into Wednesday.

Police have advised drivers to reduce speed as the cold snap continues to make roads hazardous.

A number of schools are closed, particularly in the north west.

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The Department for Infrastructure also asked drivers to exercise caution and said salting was under way on the road network on Tuesday evening and would continue overnight.

The Met Office expects several centimetres of snow in some low level areas with 5-10cm in some higher areas.

Up to 15cm could fall over the highest spots, with a risk of ice forming where the showers have fallen.

In the Republic of Ireland, warnings for snow and ice have also been issued across counties Donegal, Leitrim, and Sligo.

The coldest temperatures recorded overnight in Northern Ireland were in Katesbridge, County Down, (-8.4C) and Castlederg, County Tyrone, (-7.1).

There were 20 road crashes across Londonderry and Strabane, police said earlier on Tuesday, as icy conditions moved in.

SDLP assembly member for Foyle Mark H Durkan described conditions on some roads in the north west as "shambolic".

Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle, Mr Durkan said his office was inundated with calls for assistance and that the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) had "come up short".

Emergency services dealt with a crash on the Creggan Road in Derry on Monday night

Roads Service engineer Peter McParland defended the response to the conditions, saying staff had been working in salting shifts over the past 24 hours and that there were "no major incidents to report".

"All gritters have made it safely back to the depots and currently all main roads are open and passable with care, but I would stress that we can't guarantee roads will be free of ice even after they've been salted," he told BBC News NI.

Mr McParland added that rural roads remained "challenging".

Dunloy, County Antrim was the scene of heavy snowfall

Some areas in the north coast also experienced snowy spells on Tuesday

"The department salts around 7,000km of road - that equates to about 25% of the entire road network, but it carries 80% of the traffic."

He said he was satisfied that everything was done that could have been done by his department.

"The gritters were out from 15:00 yesterday, in the north west they went out again after 20:00 after the snow showers and again at 02:00 this morning. There's plenty of salt on the road, but salt needs traffic to activate it, so I expect that the roads will clear."

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• School closures in Northern Ireland

Many young children in Derry made the most of school closures on Tuesday and used make-shift slays to enjoy the snow near the city's historic walls.

Translink bus services have also been affected by snow, with delays and disruption expected.

Sinn Féin councillor Emma McGinley said driver safety had to take priority over the inconvenience to travellers.

"The priority is not just the safety of the residents, but the bus drivers, their health and safety has to be taken into account.

"If it's not safe to them to be driving in it, that needs to take priority - we can't have a situation where someone is putting their life at risk essentially."

Derry City and Strabane District Council also warned residents of possible disruption to a number of services, including bin collection.

It advised people to leave their bin out as normal and that those not emptied today will be emptied as conditions improve later this week.

All council cemeteries are also closed to the public on Tuesday except to facilitate burials.

Recycling centres and parks will be opened "when it is safe to do so", the council added.