We’re off to a cold start for the new year as Met Éireann is predicting plummeting temperatures for the first week of January with a chance of snow in some areas.
Cork will be in the grips of a cold snap across the coming days with temperatures across Munster dropping to lows of -5ºC in places. Here in Cork temperatures are expected to drop below zero tonight after reaching a high of just 5ºC this afternoon.
The national forecaster has issued a nationwide Status Yellow weather warning, which will come into effect at 6 pm this evening. Met Éireann has warned of hazardous travelling conditions as a result of the cold snap, and pet owners have been advised to keep their animals out of the chill.
While it is expected to be quite a cold day, it’s thankfully expected to remain dry throughout, with little to no rain expected until the weekend.
These conditions will continue into tomorrow with the Status Yellow warning set to expire late on Friday morning. Saturday will see similar temperatures. However, these will also be accompanied by heavy rainfall.
As part of a nationwide weather advisory, a spokesperson for Met Éireann said there’s a chance of ‘significant accumulations of snow in some counties’.
They said: “Sleet and snow in places this weekend with some disruption possible. A spell of rain will spread northwards over Ireland during the course of Saturday, turning to sleet and snow in some areas.
“Rain, sleet and snow will continue for a time on Sunday before clearing eastwards into the Irish Sea. Significant accumulations of snow are likely in some counties.”
The full regional forecast for Munster is down below.
Today
Frost will clear this morning to leave a cold day but it’ll be dry and sunny in many areas. There’s just the chance of a few isolated showers. Highest temperatures of only 2 to 6 degrees in a light to moderate mainly northerly breeze.
Tonight
Cold and mainly dry tonight with clear spells. There’s just the chance of the odd isolated light shower. Lowest temperatures of -5 to 0 degrees with widespread frost and some ice developing. Some fog and freezing fog will form too. Winds will be mostly light west to northwesterly or variable.
Tomorrow
It’ll be frosty to begin tomorrow morning with some fog in places too. The frost and fog will clear to leave another cold day, but it’ll be mainly dry and sunny again. There’ll just be a few isolated light showers in western parts. Highest temperatures of 3 to 6 degrees in mostly light variable breezes.