Snow set to make a return

Snow is expected to return to Ireland over the next few days while temperatures will likely reach as low as minus 5 degrees in some areas, according to Met Éireann.

Snow falls of up to 10cm are possible and the low temperatures are forecast to remain until after the weekend.

Met Éireann said temperatures are due to plunge to minus 4 degrees overnight as scattered wintry showers hit parts of Ulster and north Connacht, bringing with them some sleet and hill snow.

The forecaster said temperatures tomorrow will be between 2 and 6 degrees with a few hail, sleet or snow showers likely in northwestern and northern coastal counties.

It is expected to be very cold tomorrow evening with a widespread severe frost leading to icy roads and pockets of fog by Friday morning. This will be replaced by wet and windy weather developing along the south coast which is expected to move up over much of Munster and Leinster during the day, falling as sleet or snow in many places.

Sleet and snow is also expected over parts of Ulster and Connacht for much of Friday night, before clearing northwards later on.

Met Éireann forecaster Vincent O'Shea said the next 24 to 36 hours would be mostly dry but cold in many areas.

"Counties in the far north such as Donegal and the Derry and Antrim coasts may have some sleet or hail showers but that will be the exception. It will be a very chilly day tomorrow with temperatures reaching between 2 and 4 degrees," he said.

"There's an active system in the mid-Atlantic at the moment which will certainly cause disruption in Britain through Friday and possibly Saturday and that will probably pass by the south of Ireland. We think it will primarily affect Munster, the midlands and Leinster and as it pushes inland there's a high risk that there will be large snow falls, particularly in areas above 200 metres," he added.

Mr O'Shea said while temperatures will remain low over the weekend it would be mostly dry with a return to mild weather next week likely.

A spokesman for the National Roads Authority (NRA) said there were sufficient salt supplies available to local authorities.

Sean O'Neill said the NRA had over 40,000 tonnes of salt in the country with a shipment of 8,000 tonnes arriving in Foynes yesterday. He said further supplies are expected over the coming days.

"We are in a much better position to meet the bad weather now in terms of supply and distribution of salt," he said. "We went down to our last few thousand tonnes a couple of weeks ago when the snow hit but now we're back to a sufficient level and are well placed to deal with this weekend's weather events."

This winter, over 75,000 tonnes of salt has been used compared to an annual average of 60,000 tonnes.