CHRISTMAS WEATHER: Widespread frost brings chance of ‘sleet and snow’, say forecasters
We’re unlikely to have a white Christmas this year, but some forecasters have warned some parts of the county have a good chance of seeing “sleet and snow” on the big day.
Carlow Weather’s Alan O’Reilly wrote on Instagram over the weekend: “Latest ECMWF once again shows a risk of sleet/snow from low system Christmas night into St Stephen’s Day.
“Other models don’t support this outcome though so it’s wait and see for now. At least Christmas Day daylight hours looks dry and settled.”
Weather Alerts Ireland also flagged a chance of snow. They wrote on Facebook: “Could there be snow overnight Christmas Night into Stephen’s Day?? The ECMWF models is showing rain push into South of Ireland overnight Christmas Night with a low-pressure system.
“This looks to turn to snow for some parts of the South of the country. The amount on this model show over 20cm of snow in parts which is quite a substantial amount and unrealistic I would think but time will tell!
“But this is the only model showing snow at this time.”
Met Éireann said we will experience “mixed” weather for Christmas week, some dry and bright days interspersed with wet and windy days. Cool initially, becoming milder and perhaps more settled towards New Year.
The national forecaster said today will mostly be dry and bright weather throughout Kilkenny and most of the country, with highest temperatures of 7 to 9 degrees.
Christmas Eve (Tuesday) will see “patchy light rain” in the south early in the day, mostly dry elsewhere with scattered showers and some bright spells and temperature highs of between 5 to 8 degrees.
However, Met Éireann said temperatures will plummet again on Christmas Eve night, bringing “widespread frost”.
The national forecaster said Christmas Day will have a “crisp, bright start” with frost clearing.
But it added: “Rain will arrive in the southwest early in the day and spread steadily northwards. It will however stay mostly dry for the north and east of the country until after dark. Easterly winds becoming fresh to strong in the south later in the day. Maximum temperatures of 5 to 6 degrees in the north, and 7 to 9 degrees in the south.”
