**Snowfall in Ballyshannon, Donegal this morning - photo by John Mc Donagh**

Many parts of the northwest and north of Ireland woke up this morning with snow accumulations with some parts of Donegal, Derry and Tyrone receiving between 1cm to 5cm of snowfall. Across higher parts of the northwest some areas seen up to 10cm as a train of showers moved in overnight and over the early stages of this mornings.

Snowfall also effected Fermanagh, Sligo, Leitrim, Mayo and Cavan with small accumulations there also.

Many areas will see snow remain on the ground over the day with very little thaw and ground and air temperatures below freezing for some inland areas leading to hazardous and treacherous driving conditions on all roads extra caution is advised when make trips.

This evening and tonight it will turn very cold once again with lows of 0C to -4C coldest across the north and northwest with very icy conditions in all areas especially across areas of the northwest that seen snow in the last few hours that will become compact turning to ice.

Another band of sleet and snow is expected to move across Ireland from this evening, overnight and Sunday morning giving fresh snow accumulations for many parts of Ireland but some areas will see very little or none at all. The forecast for this evening and overnight is very uncertain but the latest Ecmwf, Gfs and ICON show the band of showers moving across Ireland moving into west Connacht and west Munster at around 18:00hrs this evening extending eastwards across Ireland overnight falling as snow for many.

As the band of snow move eastwards some model have it breaking up but others bring it across the whole country for one example the ECMWF model which shows accumulations for much of Ireland by Sunday morning. Amounts of 1cm to 3cm will be possible over the time frame the snowfall crosses Ireland with some areas possibly 3 to 4 hours of mainly light but moderate falls at times.

Chart belei shows the possible snow accumulations in places by 12 midday Sunday

**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