Significantly colder air temperatures to envelop the country

The people at Met Éireann have said significantly colder air temperatures will bring a mix of wintry precipitation, including sleet and slow, as the week progresses.

Midland weatherman Cathal Nolan of Ireland's Weather Channel has said however that Westmeath is unlikely to see any heavy accumulations, which will be reserved for higher ground above 300 meters.

Starting tomorrow, Cathal says "a very cold shot of arctic air" which developed over Greenland originally will move south-eastwards across the country, spreading showers from the north-west which will turn wintry as the day progresses.

"This northerly airflow will last from Wednesday into the early days of next week, bringing showers of rain, sleet, snow and hail in places," he explains.

"There will be some pleasant sunny spells in there too, especially on Thursday, but it will be very cold and blustery at times."

Temperatures in Westmeath will not reach higher than 3 - 5 degrees during the daytime, while night time temperatures could reach as low as -3, rendering roads treacherous by morning.

Wednesday night will be bitterly cold with a severe frost in areas sheltered from the strong north-westerly winds.

According to Cathal, heavy wintry showers will affect many areas, but especially across Atlantic coastal areas of the northwest, west and southwest, whilse some falls of snow are likely, especially above 300 metres.

Thursday will be another bitterly cold day with heavy wintry showers in northern, western and south-western areas, with further falls of snow above 350-400 metres, with mainly hail and sleet at lower levels. It will however be dry and sunny for much of the Midlands, east and south.

Friday will again remain cold, with more in the way of cloud as an area of low pressure comes increasingly close to Ireland’s east coast, leading to more general outbreaks of showery rain or sleet, with snow likely above 450 metres.