All signs are pointing towards a wild week on the weather front next week.
Met Éireann have extended a week-long status yellow weather warning into next Saturday, 3 March, and warned of “persistent bands of snow from midweek” onwards.
The warning was
initially issued on Friday at midday and set to remain in effect until 12pm this coming Friday, 2 March.
Given the conditions likely to be experienced throughout the country next week, Met Éireann have promised to update the weather advisory continuously and on Saturday evening, it was extended until 6pm next Saturday.
The updated warning comes into effect at one minute past midnight on Monday night and forecasts “disruptive snow showers” from Tuesday onwards, particularly in the east and southeast, with “snow showers perhaps merging into more persistent bands of snow from midweek”.
As was the case with the initial warning, “exceptionally cold weather” has also been forecast, along with significant wind chill and severe frosts.
The Met Éireann update came on the same day that a local weather forecaster in Offaly predicted that
next week will see one of the worst spells of wintry weather in Ireland since 1982.
Cathal Nolan of the Midland Weather Channel said that he expects a status red weather warning to be issued by the national authorities during the week and that schools and roads may close due to temperatures dropping to as low as -10 degrees and as much as 40cm of snowfall in some counties.
