Weather set to deteriorate with the return of ‘wintry’ conditions

Tempting as it may be to get optimistic about a warm and sunny spring ahead after that weekend, don’t pack away the puffer jackets just yet.

Temperatures are set to plummet, “hard frosts” are on the way and you may brace yourselves for snow and “wintry showers” in coming days.

According to Met Éireann the last day of the bank holiday weekend will remain dry and breezy with sunny spells, but temperatures are about to fall dramatically from the balmy highs of 14 degrees we had on Saturday and Sunday to between just 4 and 7 degrees on Monday. And gusty winds will have us feeling even chillier.

Things will only get worse as we move into Monday night, with "cold with wintry showers of light sleet and snow" forecast in north Connacht and Ulster at first but extending everywhere by Tuesday morning and temperatures dipping as low as -3 degrees.

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Sleet and snow?

By Tuesday afternoon we could be looking out our windows at showers of “wintry sleet and snow” with “possibility of a longer spell of rain later in the afternoon and evening in the west”. North winds will have us all “feeling cold . . . with highest temperatures of just 4 to 8 degrees”.

Tuesday night promises “wintry showers” towards the east, cloud and rain on western coasts and lowest temperatures of between -3 and 1 degree “with a widespread sharp to severe frost” inland in the west and southwest.

Things will warm up on Wednesday with temperatures of 8 to 10 degrees – but “generally cloudy conditions” with bring rain, and “persistent” rain across the west and northwest.

Temperatures look set to hover at 8 to 10 degrees on Thursday before falling back towards the weekend, with rain and drizzle remaining throughout.