Snowfall is now falling across the west of Ireland with some areas of Galway and Mayo already seen heavy snowfall and accumulations leading to very dangerous driving conditions.

Gardai have also said in the last hour that “Clifden Town in Galway is currently impassable due to snowfall in the area”

*Traffic Alert* Clifden Town in Galway is currently impassable due to snowfall in the area

A status yellow weather warning is currently in place for all of the country

We would like to remind all road users to take care if using the roads this evening #StayHomeStaySafe pic.twitter.com/hlLf5tNH7X
— An Garda Síochána (@GardaTraffic) January 23, 2021

The latest road traffic camera shows very poor conditions on the N59 Maams Cross Galway

Based on the latest weather forecasting model outputs I have put together this risk map which shows what areas going by a number of the weather models will see the highest risk of snow and accumulations from this evening until Sunday midday. It is a very complex set up with even at this stage the full details not fully know and in the weather world we call this a nowcast. As the band of snow move west to east across Ireland it may break up in places but if it holds together many may see a dusting by morning away from north Ulster.

Areas in the Yellow highlighted part of the map could see some snow accumulations of up to 4cm with some areas within this area seen no snow at all. Some larger amounts could fall over higher ground areas of up to 8cm.

Areas in the black highlighted area could see anything from 0cm to 2cm of snow.

Northern parts of Ulster look set to remain largely dry and very cold with a sharp frost and icy roads developing. Some areas have seen no thaw in snow at all today across Ulster so this will be a added extra hazardous conditions.

**Snow accumulations by 12 midday Sunday**

As the band of snow clears the the east later Sunday morning it may give some heavier burst of snow across south Leinster and north Leinster. Overall many areas look like they will wake up to a dusting of snow tomorrow morning but there is some uncertainty for Northern parts of Ulster to see how far the band of snow reaches which could miss those areas. It will be a a now cast situation as such set up like this are very complex.

On Sunday afternoon and evening further falls of sleet and snow could effect northwestern counties giving fresh snow accumulations to places. Temperatures during the day will only range between 0C to 3C so a very cold day with icy conditions continuing over much of Sunday. Sunday night will be cold again with 0C to -3C. Some fog will form in places with further wintry falls some of snow across the west and north overnight again with icy conditions nationwide.

TWO WEATHER WARNINGS ISSUED FOR SNOW AND ICE

SATURDAY MORNING & SUNDAY MORNING

STATUS YELLOW - SNOW/ICE WARNING FOR IRELAND

Met Éireann Weather Warning

Falls of sleet and snow on Saturday evening and night will give some snow accumulations across Northern Ireland leading to Icy and hazardous conditions. between 1cm to 5cm will accumulated across some lower level areas with up to 10cm across higher ground areas

Valid: 18:00 Saturday 23/01/2021 to 12:00 Sunday 24/01/2021

Issued: 12:00 Friday 22/01/2021