By William Warnes, PA
Conditions are expected to improve this week after bad weather caused disruption during the Christmas getaway period.
Forecasters have predicted a “grey Christmas” with some sunny spells and mild temperatures.
It comes after adverse weather conditions led to disruption during the Christmas getaway over the weekend.
Met Éireann issued yellow warnings for wind which remained in place until 3pm on Sunday, while warnings for Northern Ireland lasted until 9pm.
An airport was forced to enact emergency procedures on Sunday after a plane’s nose wheel collapsed as it landed in Belfast.
There were four crew on board and no passengers when the “hard landing” occurred on Sunday afternoon.
The incident triggered emergency procedures at Belfast City Airport and forced the runway to close for the rest of the day.
In a statement on social media early on Monday, the airport confirmed the affected runway “has reopened and is operating as normal”.
The statement continued: “Passengers impacted by yesterday’s runway closure or those due to travel today should check the status of their flight with the airline.”
Travel between Larne in Co Antrim and Cairnryan in southern Scotland was disrupted throughout Saturday and Sunday, with most services cancelled due to adverse weather conditions.
Stefan Donnelly (35) had travelled from London to Scotland where he discovered his ferry from Cairnryan to Larne had been cancelled.
Mr Donnelly had planned to travel at 8pm on Saturday but has managed to rebook onto the 8pm sailing on Sunday.
The marketing manager, who is travelling home for Christmas, said communication from P&O Ferries had been poor as he only discovered his sailing had been cancelled from social media.
Disruption continued as people were ferried to Ireland on alternative routes after the temporary closure of Holyhead port in an effort to get people home for Christmas, a Welsh minister said.
The busy ferry port in Anglesey, north Wales, was forced to close following damage during Storm Darragh and is not set to reopen until January 15th at the earliest.
All ferry services between Dublin and Holyhead are currently cancelled, upending travel plans for thousands in the festive season.
But alternative sailings to Ireland have been taking place this weekend amid high winds and challenging conditions.
Looking ahead, conditions are expected to improve and Ireland could see a “grey Christmas”, rather than a white one.
Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and St Stephen's Day will all be mild and mostly cloudy with a fair amount of dry weather and with some light rain or drizzle at times, most likely in western and northern counties.
The best of the drier periods will be in the east and southeast. Day time temperatures will reach about 11 or 12 degrees and the nights will be frost-free.
