**Snow in Dunlewey, Donegal last week- Image by Andy Deery**

A weather watch is now on places for Wednesday night and Thursday morning across Donegal with a band of rain set to move in from the northwest sweeping over Donegal on Wednesday night into early Thursday morning. As this rain moves across Donegal it will turn to snow across many parts of the county.

Along coastal areas of western and northern Donegal this will tend to be more of a mix of rain, sleet and snow with inland areas seen the highest risk of accumulations. Totals of around 1cm to 5cm of snow will fall in some parts of the county

Roads will become very slippery on Wednesday night and Thursday morning due to the freezing conditions and anywhere a mix of rain or sleet falls it will freeze even around coastal areas very quickly as ground temperatures will be rather low and below 0C.

The image attached below shows the latest ECMWF model run outlook for Donegal Wednesday night at 10pm showing light snow as the band of rain turns wintry as is moves across the county. Around coasts the green and light orange colour shows more of a mix between rain, Sleet and snow.

The Below image then shows the band of rain, sleet and snow becoming more heavy and moderate across Donegal heading towards 12am. Again around western and northern coastal of Dongal this will tend to be a mix of rain, sleet and snow showing as the green and orange colours on the below chart. the darker blur shows moderate falls of snow

The next image below is from the Latest ECMWF model for 2am Thursday morning showing the band of rain sleet and snow clearing to the southeast of Donegal. This will totally clear eastern parts of Donegal around 4am Thursday morning.

As mentioned above the highest accumulations will be across inland areas of Donegal away from the coastal areas with around 1cm to 5cm in some parts. Very hazardous driving conditions on Wednesday night and Thursday morning will occur across Donegal and the northwest region due to snow on the ground.

**ESTIMATE SNOW DEPTH ON THURSDAY MORNING FROM SNOWFALL**

With the recent cold weather and ground temperatures over the last week the ground in many parts of the northwest and west has been below 0c over the last number of days with any rain, sleet or snow falling onto it Wednesday night and Thursday morning it is likely to freeze very quickly leading to icy roads even in areas that only see sleet and rain. The below image shows temperatures close to the ground on Wednesday night