Weather set for dramatic change with unseasonable highs of 13 degrees expected

A lorry skidded in treacherous conditions and crashed into the front of a pharmacy in Co Mayo in the early hours of the morning.

The truck did substantial damage to O’Donnell’s Total Health Pharmacy in Charlestown at around 2.50am.

The truck collided with a traffic island, then a parked vehicle and then broke the glass to the front of the pharmacy. Fortunately nobody was seriously hurt, although the driver of the truck was brought to hospital.

Met Éireann had issued a Status Yellow warning for ice overnight. Many places experienced freezing rain where rain freezes just as it hits the ground and creates an immediate film of ice. This has led to cars ending up in ditches and on roadsides. The AA has said it has experienced “unprecedented breakdown call-outs” in recent days.

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The end of the cold snap will see a dramatic rise in temperatures across the country.

After a week in which temperatures fell to -8.8 degrees, the next few days will feel like the coming of spring.

The last of the cold temperatures, which have lingered over the country for the last eight days, will end on Saturday night. Temperatures will hover nationwide between 0 degrees and -3 degrees during Saturday afternoon and evening.

The cold air from the north will be swept away with milder air on Sunday leading to temperatures of 13 degrees in many parts of the east and south on Sunday and Monday.

There will be a notable change in conditions too. There has been little in the way of wind during the recent cold spell, so strong and gusty southerly winds will make it feel a lot fresher.

The rest of the week will feel like normal December weather with temperatures dropping back to between 7 and 9 degrees and there will be a wind chill factor at night.

Met Éireann forecaster Aoife Kealy said a “drastic change” is coming in the weather and it does not augur well for the prospects of a white Christmas.

“It will be far more unsettled. There will be blustery conditions and those winds will be strong at time on coasts,” she said.

“It looks like a milder air mass into next weekend, but we will have more certainty in our forecast towards the end of next week.

“As it stands everything is pointing towards day time temperatures for Christmas Day of between 6 and 8 degrees and a bit of rain or showers, but nothing [like what] we have seen over the last week or so. I wouldn’t be putting any money on a white Christmas.”