Traffic ground to a halt as up to 12cm of snow fell in a matter of hours across the province.

The big chill caught motorists by surprise as forecasters had predicted the winter weather to miss Northern Ireland and instead hit England and Scotland.

Many drivers battled the Arctic conditions for hours, while some were forced to either abandon their vehicle or turn back.

Powercuts in the Newcastle, Lisburn and Castlewellan areas of Co Down left around 14,000 households without electricity.

Several traffic light failures added to the havoc and fear on several of Northern Ireland's roads.

The PSNI have warned motorists to keep off the roads in "high country" - but they added that main routes in the province were passable with care.

The M2 motorway into Belfast from Co Antrim had a 20mph speed limit imposed along its entire length amid warnings that it was re-freezing.

One main route into Belfast was blocked when a gritter lorry got stuck.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph today, the Met Office said the snowfall had been "heavier than anticipated".

Forecaster Tom Masson said: "There was a warning issued yesterday evening but it is often tricky to track local bands of snow."

Roads Service said about 125 gritters were out treating the roads from yesterday afternoon.

Dennis Wilson, a spokesman from the DRD Roads Service, said they were not aware of how heavy the snow fall would be.

"We were aware from the Met Office that road surface temperatures were going to drop sharply overnight," he said.

"We were aware that there was a forecast of light snow in places.

"What we weren't really prepared for was the really heavy snow in Co Down and Armagh.

"Although if we had known it was going to be such heavy snow we would have put down a lot more salt after the snow arrived."

Norman Gibson from Crossgar was among the motorists who experienced trouble getting home.

Mr Gibson said the bad weather was continuing to cause problems today and criticised the lack of gritters and snow ploughs used to treat the roads in south Belfast and Saintfield area.

"I got down as far as Forestside and the whole of the countrybound lane at 6.40am was at a standstill with maybe eight or nine articulated lorries stopped at the side of the road," he said.

"And the only sign of any work on the road was the two tracks that were cut by cars.

"There had been no snow plough anywhere near the Saintfield or Ormeau Road."

However, Roads Service said hundreds of staff have been working since to keep the main roads open since the snow fell yesterday afternoon.

"We had gritters in the south and east areas from mid-afternoon yesterday and in the north area as well," Mr Wilson said.

"We are making no bones about this. The roads are a terrible condition in and around the Belfast area at the moment and drivers can expect severe disruption on their way to work this morning."

Mr Wilson added: "You can always do better. It's fairly rare you do get such a level of snow here. There are obviously lessons to be learnt.

"We have a lot of drivers who have never actually driven in snow conditions before.

"They are well used to driving in frosty conditions but it is a learning process for them, it is a learning process for Roads Service as a whole."

A number of schools across the province were also forced to close today due to the bad weather.

Roads Service said they will continue to monitor the situation as more snow is forecast later today.

The heavy snow also affected the main airports and public transport.

George Best Belfast City Airport was closed for a while though Belfast International Airport remained open.

City of Derry Airport remained open but some flights are subject to indefinite delays.

Translink said Ulsterbus and Goldline Express services were "subject to delay, disruption and possibly cancellation".

Derry councillor, SDLP man Jim McKeever, who lives in the Tamnaherin area, said that the snow had made way for ice this morning.

"The snow is not too bad, but it has frozen over during the night and the cars are having to travel very slowly and carefully," he said.

The spokesman for the Met Office said that a little more snow was expected.

"There was some heavily localised snow," he said.

"A belt of rain is coming in from the west, which may fall as snow for a short time but we are expecting everything to be thawed by the afternoon."

In many areas of Derry, youngsters made the most of snow flurries, building snowmen and flinging snowballs.

However, for older people there were concerns that the weather may cause problems.