A cold front crossed Ireland overnight heralding the start
of a much colder period of weather than of recent.
Wintry showers of hail or sleet are already affecting
western and northern coastal counties while temperatures have dropped to as low
as 3-5c in inland parts of Ulster and Connacht.
The highest mountain tops in West Munster, Connacht and
Ulster will see a dusting of snow over the next 48 hours as further scattered
heavy showers feed their way southeastwards.
The below MODIS image from midday shows a cold front pushing
southeastwards across the UK having cleared from Ireland early this morning.
Further showers of hail and sleet are likely across the
country during Tuesday and Wednesday but these will become much more scattered during
Thursday when they will retreat to eastern and northern coastal fringes. In the meantime, a weak band of rain and sleet will also cross the country on Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.
Temperatures will dip close to or below freezing each night
this week, especially in inland sheltered areas. Daytime temperatures are
likely to recover somewhat by the weekend but night-time temperatures are set
to plummet to as low as -3c or -4c in places by early next week.
Fog may also be slow to clear in some inland locations. Where fog persists, temperatures could remain close to freezing during daylight hours.The below temperature chart from
netweather.tv shows the situation for next Monday at 6am.
Overall, this is by no means going to be a severe cold spell
and most places away from the highest mountains will not see any lying snow. However, today’s drop in
temperatures does signal the beginning of the first prolonged cold period of
the winter season.
The below Arctic Oscillation chart, provided courtesy of
NOAA, signifies that there very well could be periodic blasts of very cold air
seeping south over Ireland during the next few weeks. How prolonged and severe
these might be remains to be seen.
