Temperatures are set to plummet to -7 in some parts of the country amid a cold weather system that brought us Beast from the East.
A Sudden Stratospheric Weather (SSW) warning was put in place yesterday that will make early January the coldest spell of the winter so far.
Meteorologists are not expecting another Beast from the East snowfall but the weather and temperatures will get notably worse throughout the week around the country.
On December 2, Roscommon plummeted to -5.9 degrees. It has been predicted that parts of Connacht and Ulster will plunge to -7 over the coming days.
Forecaster Liz Walsh was speaking to Newstalk and said “Temperatures have been below average since before the new year and they are going to continue to be below average at least until the end of this week.”
“There’ll be slightly warmer temperatures coming on Thursday, but then another very cold day looks likely on Friday as well and it will remain quite cold, but possibly a little less cold, as we go into the weekend.”
She went on to add “What we have at the moment is high pressure anchored to the north-west of Ireland the UK and that’s bringing very light winds.
“As we go through tonight those winds are going to die away and they’re going to become quite light, especially in the west and north-west of the country – perfect conditions for very cold temperatures to occur.”
The weather in Leinster is to remain cold with some wintery showers predicted.
It is unclear how badly the SSW will affect Ireland.
Met Éireann published a report on their website highlighting the SSW. “It is uncertain how this will affect our weather in the coming weeks as we are already in a very blocked setup.”
“It could kick-start the westerly momentum in our region, at least temporarily, as the SPV is pushed over Scandinavia, leading to a strengthening of the North Atlantic jetstream, resulting in a more typical winter weather pattern for Ireland.”
“It could also prolong and intensify the high latitude blocked setup leading to cold polar air masses flooding south into northern Europe or elsewhere in the mid latitudes.”
The state forecaster also noted that Ireland is already in a “very blocked pressured set” at the moment which brings more uncertainty.
For the latest weather updates, visit Met Éireann here.
