It could be a white pre-Christmas in some parts of Ireland, but the big day itself seems likely to be grey as usual. Mild weather from Monday will probably set the tone for Christmas week, although St Stephen's Day is still too far away to predict.
In the meantime, snow fans should head for the north-west today in advance of a short, cold spell which Met Éireann says will offer "some chance" of the white stuff falling this weekend. In fact, forecasters believe higher ground in Ulster and north Connacht will definitely see snow.
For the rest of Ireland, however, seasonal atmosphere will be provided only by bitterly cold conditions over the weekend, especially later today, when north-westerly winds pick up. Winds will ease tomorrow, but it will again be very cold, with heavy frost on Sunday night, before mild conditions return on Monday.
The places to be for real snow over the next couple of days are Scotland and England's north-east. The Atlantic rain sweeping Ireland today and tomorrow will meet colder air over Britain, resulting in widespread and in some places very heavy snowfalls.
The UK's Met Office has warned there could be several centimetres of snow in northern and eastern counties of Scotland and England today.
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