Chilly temperatures return after warm spell

More familiar winter conditions are expected to return from Wednesday, with potentially sub-zero overnight temperatures signalling the end of an unseasonably warm spell.

On Tuesday Met Éireann said on-the-ground temperatures had been about two degrees above average for the time of year but warned of a probable chill to come. The shift will end any early thoughts of spring, pulling the country back to winter readiness as cost-of-living pressures keep consumer focus on heating bills.

“There will be more chance of frost, with low temperatures of zero degrees to minus one [on Tuesday night],” Met Éireann meteorologist Matthew Martin said on Tuesday, remarking that it would not be unusual to have night temperatures below zero, with frosts into March.

Day temperatures are likely to fall back to about six to seven degrees from about as high as 13 degrees. “Next week will be colder,” Mr Martin added.

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The national forecaster anticipated rain would clear overnight, only to make way for noticeable cold. Wednesday morning threatens wintry showers in some areas, and frost and ice as temperatures are unlikely to climb much above zero.

Throughout Wednesday conditions will be cold and breezy, with sunshine and scattered, blustery showers. Some are likely to be heavy, with hail and possible thunder. Afternoon temperatures might reach as high as 9 degrees, but things will feel colder due to a brisk northwesterly wind.

Between Wednesday and the weekend those temperatures are unlikely to break 10 degrees, while dipping to freezing at times during the night. It should remain relatively dry from Thursday.

On Tuesday evening the popular amateur online forecaster Carlow Weather posted a mapping image of rain beginning to move across Ireland but easing off as it went. “Nice bitter windchill to follow for tomorrow and also some heavy and possibly thundery showers,” it said.

Meanwhile, Met Éireann has not given up on its warnings of snow and low temperatures over the coming weeks following its reference two weeks ago to a major sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) event, the kind that precipitated the so-called “Beast from the East” in 2018. Such a scenario, it said, “was highly likely”, potentially bringing heavy snowfalls and plummeting temperatures.

A SSW is a weather phenomenon where the temperatures in the stratosphere over polar regions rise significantly in just a few days. Major SSW events increase but do not guarantee the likelihood for colder-than-average weather over northern and northwestern Europe for several weeks to a few months after the event.