Winds abate but very cold spell of weather on the way!

In the aftermath of Storm Eleanor, today is to remain very windy, especially in the west, with gusts of up to 120km/h expected. 

Met Éireann maintain their status orange wind warning for Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Sligo, Clare, Cork, Kerry and Limerick until 2pm today. 

"Westerly gale to storm winds together with high tides and exceptionally high seas will result in coastal damage and flooding. Damaging gusts likely inland also," say the national meteorological service.

A status yellow wind warning meanwhile remains in place for Leinster, Cavan, Monaghan, Roscommon, Tipperary and Waterford, where very strong gusty westerly winds will continue.

Today could also bring some hail and thunder and it will feeling quite cold. Tonight will see the winds ease a bit with rain passing at times. Following isolated sleety showers, there could be frost in places and a chances of icy roads inland.

Tomorrow, Thursday, could see more strong winds in the southwest coast as another low passes the country. Meanwhile the rest of Ireland could see moderate gusts at times ranging betweem 40 - 70km/h. It will turn colder by evening, dropping from 8 or 9 degrees to 4 degrees by evening.

Friday will continue to turn colder and will bring mixed rain and snow inland with temperatures ranging betweenn 3 to 5 degrees but falling lower during wintry showers.

Saturday will see more wintry showers moving in off the Irish Sea and Atlantic into Leinster and Connacht. Winds northeast 50 to 70 km/hr will add quite a chill to temperatures already well down into the range of -1 to +4 C.

And there appears to be no let up from the cold on Sunday and Monday with severe frosts forecast. Temperatures will remain low throughout the day with lows -6 to -2 at night, and highs -1 to +4 during the daytime. 

Sleet, snow and cold rain is on the radar for Tuesday and looking ahead there's no knowing how long this cold spell will last.