A group of secondary school students from Cork city are stuck in New York due to a major snowstorm sweeping across the United States.
The powerful storm has left at least 11 people dead and caused widespread transport delays.
The 25 students from Coláiste Éamann Rís, who are on a school tour, were due to fly home last night but were unable to when the powerful winter storm hit and their flight was cancelled, with no update yet on a rescheduled flight.
Geography, business and economics teacher, Brian Kenny, said the group are enjoying the trip and have been making the most of the snow.
They visited Central Park, the Edge NYC skyscraper, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Broadway shows as well as a basketball game in the Barclays Center, among others, Mr Kenny said.
"Yesterday afternoon it was quite bleak and the snow came down early in the morning Sunday morning, and accumulated. It continued to snow until about 3pm," he said.
"The streets were virtually empty. Traffic stopped, so we were able to get some good shots of the middle of the roads … the workers were clearing the footpaths, and the snow ploughs were clearing the roads," he said.
Speaking on RTÉ's Oliver Callan, Mr Kenny said that while the city's workers have been working hard to get everything moving again, "unfortunately, our flight is one of those things that hasn't got moving yet".
He said the group had been checking in with the airline after hearing there was a state of emergency announced in New York city.
Mr Kenny said they rebooked with the hotel for an extra two nights.
"They were delighted, absolutely delighted. Some of them don't want to go home at all," he said of his students.
He said that as a geography teacher, it has been a great opportunity to educate the students about weather systems and snow.
"It (the snow) seems quite dry underfoot. It is to do with the temperature of the upper atmosphere as it is falling. It is powdery and they are unable to make good snowballs," he said.
"It is to do with the moisture content and the volumes of snow. They are saying 15 inches of the depth of the snow. It has to do with the way it has frozen.
"The snow that we get at home tends to be much heavier and full of moisture, whereas this is powdery snow, so this is good for skiing, not great for snowmen or snowfalls."
