As treacherous road conditions cause the Giant's Causeway and Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge on the north Antrim coast being closed, Northern Ireland car insurance customers are preparing for further ice, sleet and snow showers. As well as affecting one of the region's top tourist attractions, the weather has led thousands of people to have problems with their water supply, though normality is now said to have returned.

Readings taken at the Armagh Observatory highlight that last month was the coldest December in almost 30 years, with the coldest average measurement recorded since 1981. Northern Ireland motorists have been told to expect snow showers across the country tonight, with widespread sharp frost.

According to forecasters, car insurance customers in Northern Ireland and the UK as a whole are facing one of the coldest winters in 100 years, with conditions set to cause "widespread, persistent and severe" problems this week.

Stephen Davenport from MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, warns of "significant or even major difficulties" with transport: "Heavy snow showers or more widespread snow will continue to move across northern and eastern areas of Britain, bringing further accumulations of several centimetres in places and causing notable disruptions."