The Mountain Road will remain closed until midday on Friday after conditions failed to improve sufficiently.

The cold snap, which arrived on Tuesday, resulted in snow, ice and frost hitting parts of the island with the Mountain Road badly affected.

A Ronaldsway Met Office yellow weather warning – meaning ‘be aware’ – remains in place until 3pm on Friday with subzero temperatures overnight this week.

Now, the Department of Infrastructure (DOI) has issued an update on the closure.

On social media, the department said: ‘Following further updates on upcoming weather conditions from staff at the Met Office at Ronaldsway, and an inspection on the mountain, it has been decided to extend the closure of the A18 Mountain Road until midday tomorrow (Friday, November 21).

‘The Tholt Y Will Road though is much improved and will be reopened as far as the Bungalow later this afternoon (Thursday) as soon as current salting work is complete.’

This means closures will remain at the Ramsey to Bungalow section and the Bungalow to Creg Ny Baa section.

Access to the Victory Café will be available from Sulby via Tholt Y Will Road while access to the Creg Ny Baa pub will be from Douglas and Creg Ny Baa Back Road.

The DOI added: ‘We will continue to monitor conditions on the lower arterial routes. Additional treatment will be applied this evening (Thursday) in particularly damp areas that may be prone to ice.’