**Dunlewey, Donegal 30th December 2020 - Image by Andy Deery**

We now have a colder airmass across Ireland to end this week but the coldest air is set to move down across Ireland on Friday and will sit over Ireland until Monday.

From Friday evening the risk of snow will increase as that colder air sinks in which will be cold enough to give falls of snow to places over the later stage of Friday and this weekend.

A heavier band of snow looks set to cross over Ireland on Saturday evening and night. Details below.

On Friday evening and night showers will turn increasingly wintry especiall across the northwest with falls of hail, sleet and snow with some rain also possible in places but some areas will see snow accumulations during Friday night and Saturday morning with the north & northwest at the highest risk. Donegal, Derry, Antrim, Sligo, Leitrim and north Mayo will see the most active showers during Friday night and Saturday morning with snow accumulations most likely in parts of these counties but not for all areas in these counites. A few showers may work there way further inland reaching parts of Roscommon, Fermanagh & Tyrone also giving dustings of snow to places. Very cold on Friday night and Saturday morning with low of 0C to -4C with widespread frost and ice along with some hazardous driving conditions.

Images below shows showers turning increasingly to hail, sleet and snow across the northwest and north on Saturday morning along with some snow accumulations.

**Heavy wintry showers on Saturday morning and afternoon**

**Some places across the northwest possibly seen some snow on the ground by Saturday morning.**

A HEAVIER BAND OF SLEET AND SNOW DUE SATURDAY EVENING AND NIGHT

Later Saturday afternoon and and evening a occluded front is set to pass across Ireland moving west to east which can be seen on the below chart which is called a surface pressure chart. Out to the west and northwest the black lines on the charts are called Trough lines which indicates organized bands of showers.

On Saturday evening showers across the west of Ireland look set to form into a organized band of sleet and snow moving west to east across Ireland from Saturday evening and the clearing to the east just after midnight.

All the latest model outputs has this falling mainly as snow for many areas with the biggest snow accumulations occurring across Ulster and north Connacht where between 2cm to 5cm could fall on some low level areas. Some higher ground areas and mountains across north Connacht and Ulster will be at risk of up to 10cm.

The rest of Connacht away from the north of the provenance will see 1cm to 3cm

Some light dustings look possible elsewhere and if the band of sleet and snow holds together as it passes across Ireland some parts Leinster may see accumulations of around 1cm to 2cm.

Across Munster it will be just a slight dusting for places with some areas see more of a mix of rain and sleet.

As the band of sleet and snow clears the the east on Saturday night just after midnight it will turn even colder with hazardous driving conditions for many areas especially across Ulster and Connacht where there will be some lying snow on Sunday morning. Lows of around 0C to -3C will occur.

Later Sunday morning and over the afternoon the GFS and ICON model the show a trough line moving across Ireland with further falls of sleet and snow but this is uncertain as the ECMWF model does not show this outcome but could change over the coming 24 hours so it something which will have to be watched for Sunday. If any more falls of snow where to occur like the GFS and ICON models show on Sunday it would lead to some good accumulations building especially across Ulster but i will update on that again tomorrow when I know more about Sunday.

Sunday night will be cold again with lows of 0C to -3C coldest across Ulster where some lying snow will add to the additional risk of ice.

POSSIBLE SNOWFALL FOR PLACES NEXT TUESDAY AGAIN BEFORE IT TURNS MILDER

Its early days yet but for the last few days now all the forecasting models has a area of low pressure to the west and northwest of Ireland on Tuesday with a band of rain extending northeastwards across Ireland on Tuesday morning turning to sleet and snow across parts of Connacht and Ulster which could give some significant falls of snow to places but it is uncertain and it is something else which will have to be watched. Further details will be known at the end of the weekend and on Monday on this system.

I have attached images below of the band of rain, sleet and snow moving up across Ireland next Tuesday with the purple colors showing snowfall as the band of rain moves into a colder sector of air across Connacht and Ulster. It could well be that it starts to fall as snow or wet snow and turns to rain as it clears.