Met Eireann confirms counties to be worst hit as temperatures drop and snow arrives

Ryan Price

Many of us might have fallen into the trap of thinking that the worst of winter was behind us.

Well, we’re not quite there yet, as Met Eireannhas issued a warning for snow and a drop in temperatures for several counties across the country.

It has already been a cold and wet start to 2024 for much of Ireland, and it seems things are going to get worse before they get better.

Temperatures are set to drop to as low as -2C in the early hours of tomorrow morning (Friday), with much of the west and northern parts of the country at risk of heavy snowfall.

The national forecaster revealed earlier this week that ‘colder polar maritime air from the North Atlantic’ was going to sweep across several western counties on Wednesday and Thursday before moving eastwards going into the weekend.

The cold snap will bring sleet showers to parts of Galway, Mayo, Donegal, Clare and Mayo before ‘lowest temperatures of -2 to +3 degrees’ cover parts of the midlands and Leinster on Friday and Saturday.

The national forecast on the Met Eireann website also suggests that “frost and ice are possible, particularly in northern areas.”.

So it sounds like western counties have experienced the worst of it and that northern and eastern counties will bear the brunt of the chill and snow over the coming days.

A mix of sunny spells & scattered showers today, most frequent over the W half of the country.🌦️

Some will be heavy with a chance of hail & isolated thunderstorms. Sleet is possible on high ground.⛈️

Light to moderate W to SW winds, increasing moderate to fresh & gusty later.🍃 pic.twitter.com/8G7mKR2Gtz

— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) February 22, 2024

Looking ahead to the weekend, the forecaster added:

‘Saturday will bring a lot of dry weather overall, with some sunshine, though with cloud increasing from the southwest later. There’ll still be a scattering of showers around, these mainly of rain, and they’ll tend to die away later.

‘There will be afternoon highs of 7C to 10C in mainly light to moderate west to northwest winds.

‘It looks as though outbreaks of rain and drizzle will push up from the southwest on Saturday night. The northern extent of this rain and drizzle is still uncertain, but it looks as though northern parts of the country will remain dry with clear spells. Lowest temperatures of 1C to 3C in the north and northeast, 4C to 7C elsewhere in freshening southeasterly winds.

‘Current indications for Sunday suggest any rain and drizzle in the south will clear southern counties in the morning, with just scattered showers affecting western, northern and eastern coastal counties during the afternoon. Top temperatures of 6C to 8C in light to moderate northerly winds.’

The good news is that this is all set to pass on Sunday, with temperatures rising to between 6 and 9 degrees across most of the country on Monday.

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