Parts of the country could experience sleet and snow overnight, as the weather is set to turn to more “wintery and seasonable” conditions, the national forecaster has said.
Met Éireann has a weather advisory in place for the whole country from 8pm on Monday night until 9am on Tuesday morning. It warns that a mix of rain sleet and snow will clear over the south of the country, with a cold airmass following from the north.
“Ice is expected to form in some areas which may lead to treacherous travelling conditions overnight and into Tuesday morning,” the advisory states.
Liz Walsh, a forecaster with Met Eireann, said it will be a cold night, with people waking up to the "first cold morning we've had in quite a while".
“It is January, and the weather is transitioning to more seasonable weather, but it will be a very noticeable change and will be much colder from Monday night,” she said.
Ms Walsh said sleet and hill snow are most likely in areas of east Munster and south Leinster.
However, the advisory is largely in place for the frost that is expected to occur nationwide, which could create treacherous conditions on roads as people return to work after the Christmas break.
It will remain mostly cold up to the weekend, Met Eireann has said, however a spell of rain on Wednesday night will bring a brief milder interlude before the cold weather returns on Thursday.
Ms Walsh said the weather will be quite “changeable” for the remainer of the week, as opposed to a lengthy cold period.
Tuesday night will be cold and largely dry with long clear spells and lowest temperatures of -3 to 0 degrees generally. A widespread sharp frost is expected to develop in light to moderate westerly winds.
Wednesday will have a cold and frosty start on Wednesday, with frost slow to clear in some places through the morning.
However, it will be a dry and sunny day overall apart from isolated coastal showers.
There will be rain on Wednesday night, with it turning to sleet on some higher ground. The rain will be heavy in some places, with localised flooding possible.
Lowest temperatures of -3 to +2 degrees, coldest over the eastern half of the country early in the night as milder conditions develop with the rain.
Thursday will be a windy day with rain in the morning, which will gradually clear eastwards through the morning. It will be followed from the west by blustery showers of rain, sleet and hail, most frequent in Atlantic coastal counties.
It will return to cold temperatures on Thursday night, with showers of rain, hail and sleet continuing to feed in from the west.
Similar conditions are forecast for Friday with scattered showers of rain, hail and sleet, most frequent in western and northern coastal areas.
It will be quite cold for much of the day; the highest temperatures of 5 to 7 degrees will only occur in the late evening.
Current indications suggest that Saturday will be a wet and breezy day with widespread rain, turning heavy at times.
It will be drier for a time on Sunday, though showers will affect the western half of the country, before a spell of rain moves in from the Atlantic later.
