Beast from the East 2.0?
One of the most memorable events of 2018 came at the end of February, when the country was brought to a standstill by Storm Emma. Shops were forced to close, roads were vacated and
The Late Late Show only had about 12 people in the audience (a Lidl was also destroyed).
But can we expect the same thing to happen this year?
Cathal Nolan of Midland Weather Channel, who predicted
last year's extreme weather in advance of it hitting Ireland, certainly seems reluctant to rule it out. First of all, he says, "our weather is likely to become much colder during the second half of January and into February".
Once again, Nolan forecasts, we can expect a lot of cold air coming westwards from Siberia and sweeping across Ireland.
But if we are going to get hit by snow, and it remains a big if, it is going to come at roughly the same time. Nolan writes: "It’s not until later in the month and through February that the risk of a more prolonged and severe cold spell becomes established, leading to a risk of some heavy snow and disruption.
"Given that this particular scenario is still some weeks away it’s almost impossible to quantify how severe such an event would be, however during similar events it’s the east and Midlands which typically bear the brunt of the snowfall and freezing temperatures."
Met Éireann consistently warns of how difficult it can be to forecast weather conditions beyond the short-term and this week, it's expected that there will be
a dip in temperatures from the mild weather Ireland has experienced of late.
The update on Midland Weather Channel can be read in full
here.
