No white Christmas but it could be frosty for Santa, says Met Éireann

Dreaming of a white Christmas? Well, prepare to be disappointed, as Met Éireann forecasts dry and settled weather for much of the festive season.

Emer Flood, Met Éireann forecaster, said Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are going to be "quite settled".

"Christmas Eve is going to be the best day over the Christmas period. You're going to see a lot of sunshine. It won't be completely dry everywhere, there will be a few light, isolated showers, mainly in West Ulster and Connacht, but the wind will be light," she said.

“It will be quite cold, between 4 and 7 degrees, but there won’t be that wind chill. Generally dry and bright in many places, becoming a bit cloudier... over the northern half of the country.”

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She said Christmas Eve night is going to be “quite cold”, with lows of -2 degrees. “It could be quite a frosty night,” she added, for Santa’s travels.

The weather will become slightly more cloudy on Christmas morning, before growing very unsettled on St Stephen’s Day.

"It will be mostly dry again (on Christmas Day) with some showers in western coastal counties. However, as clouds thicken, there will be more rain and drizzle coming in towards nightfall," Ms Flood said.

“Then, unfortunately, turning much more unsettled ... it will become quite windy, the wind strengthening throughout the day (Dec 26th). There will be showers in the morning with heavy rain in the afternoon becoming widespread during St Stephen’s night.”

However, for those wanting to see snow this Christmas, Ms Flood said there “may be wintery showers later in the weekend”.

“The weekend is going to stay unsettled, and then we’re going to get into the cold weather in the beginning of next week, with cold showery conditions,”she said.

“It does mean there is kind of an opportunity there for more wintery showers, maybe sleet and snow on high ground on Sunday into Monday.”