Met Éireann has forecast a very cold night with temperatures set to plummet to -5 degrees, leading to severe frost and ice.
The national forecaster has warned of temperatures “well below normal this week” with widespread frost and ice, it will be less cold as we reach the weekend.
Met Éireann said: "Bitterly cold tonight with widespread severe frost and ice. It will be dry with clear spells in many areas, however, scattered wintry showers of hail, sleet or snow will continue to affect eastern and southeastern counties. Lowest temperatures of -1 to -5 degrees, coldest in Connacht and Ulster where temperatures may fall even lower locally. Some freezing fog patches may form in the light northerly or variable breezes."
Frost, ice and freezing fog patches will linger in parts throughout the day tomorrow, with sleet and snow showers in parts of the country.
Temperatures will range from -3 to +2 degrees on Wednesday and -2 to +1 degrees on Thursday.
Wintry showers of rain, hail and sleet may affect western, northern and eastern coasts on Friday while temperatures will plummet again on Friday night with lows of -1 to -4 degrees.
Our 10 day Atlantic Chart shows the precipitation and pressure forecast in 6 hour intervalshttps://t.co/9Giuj4CR5m
A nationwide forecast and outlook covering the next week can be found here. https://t.co/9gKN6SVok4 pic.twitter.com/mc3KmCdY7s
— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) January 5, 2021
The snow and sleet forecast comes after Met Éireann forecast several days of scattered snow showers this week, along with a ‘Sudden Stratospheric Warming’ (SSW) for early January.
The weather event described as a SSW led to the 2018 snow storm known as the Beast from the East.
However, the forecaster has said it is currently uncertain how January's SSW will affect Ireland’s weather in the coming weeks, because it is already in a “very blocked” pressure set-up.
