Snow is not expected over the Christmas period but prepare for low temperatures, says Met Éireann.
The weekend weather in Ireland will have a blustery start with passing heavy showers and hail on Friday. Sunshine will develop more widely in the afternoon with highest temperatures of 7 to 10 degrees.
Friday evening will be dry and clear with some scattered showers feeding up from the southwest. There will be freshening south to southeast winds. Ulster will be the coldest with lowest temperatures of 3 to 7 degrees.
Saturday will have a windy start with some scattered showers and highest temperatures of 7 to 11 degrees. Mist will settle in places.
READ MORE
Saturday night will be very cold with frost and ice developing. Freezing fog is possible in Ulster and the Midlands. Showers will move into southeast and east areas later, turning wintry locally. Lowest temperatures will be -2 to 2 degrees, Met Éireann said
Sunday will be cooler with showery rain and an easterly breeze, and there is the chance of the odd wintry shower. Highest temperatures will be 4 to 8 degrees.
On Monday, further showers are expected, mainly across Ulster and Leinster, and overnight fog may linger in places. There will be frost and ice in places. Highest temperatures are forecast to be 4 to 8 degrees with a light easterly breeze.
Tuesday is expected to see some further rain, moving west, but elsewhere will be drier. Highest temperatures will range from 5 to 8 degrees. There is expected to be mist and fog in places.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are expected to be cold and dry with crisp winter sunshine. Frost and ice will begin and end each day. There is a chance of some coastal showers along the east coast with a light to moderate east to northeast breeze.
Explaining this week why the odds of a white Christmas were low, Met Éireann meteorologist Andrew Doran-Sherlock said an area of high pressure to the north of the island was the key factor.
High-pressure areas give rise to a clockwise airflow, and as such Ireland’s winds will be coming from the east and northeast, Mr Doran-Sherlock said.
While the north and northeast winds could feasibly bring snow, he said the high pressure would likely ensure that any “precipitation would melt before hitting the ground”.
For snow, water vapour must freeze on to tiny dust or pollen particles at about 3,000 metres above ground, in freezing temperatures of zero degrees, creating ice crystals that grow as more vapour freezes on them, eventually becoming heavy enough to fall as snowflakes.
When snowflakes get heavy enough, gravity pulls them down. They fall as snow if the air below stays cold enough. If it gets too warm, they melt into sleet or rain.
“It would need to be freezing all the way down for snow to form,” said Mr Doran-Sherlock.
