It will turn much colder overnight from the northwest of Ireland with the colder weather spreading across the rest of Ireland on Wednesday with the risk of further heavy rainfall, sleet and snow on Wednesday so a very mixed period of weather for Wednesday.

As we get near the end of the week it will turn colder with the risk of wintry falls increasing in nature with falls of sleet and snow for places.

ICY ACROSS THE NORTHWEST AND NORTH ON LATER TUESDAY NIGHT & WEDNESDAY MORNING

As heavy rainfall clears to the southeast tonight and Wednesday morning it will turn colder over the northwest of Ireland in particular with lows of around -1C to -2C in places around dawn Wednesday morning and due to the recent heavy rainfall today this will allow for ice to form on roads networks especially across Ulster, North & Mid Connacht. So extra caution is advised on roads there Wednesday morning. Some higher ground areas of Donegal for time tonight may see some sleet and snow as the last of the precipitation clears.

RAIN, SLEET & SNOW ACROSS THE EAST AND SOUTHEAST WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING

As the last of todays rain clears over the east and southeast on Wednesday afternoon and evening it will turning increasingly to sleet in some low level areas with some wet snow also possible giving slushy deposits at some lower level areas creating slippery conditions on roads but not all areas. The snow line / freezing level on Wednesday afternoon and evening will be for areas 400 meters and above so if your live 400 meters above sea level there is a good risk of you seen some heavy snowfall for a time. Across higher ground areas of the east and southeast like the Wicklow mountains, Sallys Gap, Dublin Mountains & Lugnaquilla conditions will be very poor with heavy snowfall leading to impassable roads on Wednesday afternoon and evening so the public are advised to stay away from the areas and not to put yourself or any of the emergency services in danger.

Chart below shows the mix of rain, wet snow and sleet for lower level parts of the east and southeast Wednesday afternoon and evening with snow 400 meters above sea level.

ICY AND WINTRY SHOWERS ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT

Some icy conditions will develop again on Wednesday night and on Thursday morning. It will be coldest across the northwest and north where lows of 0C to -2C will occur leading to icy roads. Elsewhere across the east and south temperatures will range between 0C to 2C with icy roads also forming in these areas.

A few showers early on Wednesday night across higher ground areas of the east falling as snow will clear before midnight. Across western and northern coastal counites there will be some showers of rain. sleet and hail these most wintry across the northwest and north where some falls of snow over the mountains will be possible.

COLD ON THURSDAY WITH SHOWERS SOME WHICH WILL BE WINTRY

Some of the forecasting model runs show some rain, sleet and snow moving down across the northwest and north during the early hours of Thursday morning with some areas possibly seen a dusting of snow but not all areas. The latest animation below shows this. I will keep a eye on this over the coming 24 hours and update again on the situation.

Thursday day will see further showers especially across the west and north of Ireland with some sunny spells also at times these best across the south of Ireland. Showers across the west of Ireland will mainly be of rain and hail but across Ulster some showers of sleet and snow will also be possible with the highest risk of snow across higher ground areas and the mountains. Some snow accumulations will be possible in places on Thursday with some Temporary accumulations possibly.

TURNING EVEN COLDER ON FRIDAY, SATURDAY AND SUNDAY

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday it will turn much colder as colder upper air temperatures at 850hPa moving down from the north with upper air temperatures as low as -6C to -7C which would see a higher risk of snowfall to lower levels. 850 hPa temperature is the temperature at about 1.5 km above the ground, which is generally above the atmospheric boundary layer. It means that there are no daily temperature variations and surface such as the cool sea don't affect this temperature. The '850 hPa temperature' is used to locate and identify warm fronts and cold fronts and helps to increase rain turning to snowfall at lower levels.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday will see showers mainly across the west, northwest and north with these showers turning increasingly to snow from later Friday until Sunday at times with some accumulations occurring at times in parts of Connacht and Ulster. Some heavier showers could form at times on later Saturday and Sunday merging into bands of snow but at the moment its very early to say with further details known by Friday. Regardless places across Connacht and Ulster will see some snow at times with some areas of Leinster and Munster also seen some wintry falls.

TEMPERATURE FORECAST

Thursday night & Friday morning

Thursday night and Friday morning will see further frost and ice with lows of -1C to 2C

Friday night and Saturday morning/day

Friday night and Saturday morning will turn very cold nationwide with lows of -4C to 0C with a sharp to severe ground frost developing nationwide and wintry falls of snow in places. Icy roads also developing.

Saturday day temperatures will only range between 2C to 4C coldest across northern half of Ireland

Saturday night and Sunday morning/day

Turning very cold again overnight Saturday and on Sunday morning with lows of 0C to -4C with a sharp to severe frost developing nationwide again with icy roads also developing. Some falls of snow again possible later Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Cold Sunday day again with further showers possible across the north and west some wintry

Sunday night and Monday morning

Turning cold again on Sunday night and Monday morning with lows of -2C to 1C with frost and icy roads again for places some possible showers of sleet and snow again overnight and on Monday morning

TURNING MILDER AROUND MID WEEK NEXT WEEK

It then looks set to turn milder from mid week next week again with spells of wet and windy weather at times for the end of the week and over next weekend but not major wind storms look possible at this stage.

There are some signals that around the end of the first week of February the weather may turn a bit colder again and personally I feel we will see something colder conditions again towards the end of that first week or the second week of February.

Some areas could see Snow/Ice warnings issued towards the end of this week and over the weekend with low temperature/ ice warnings also possible.

I will have further updates over the week on the risks when times are better known.

Kenneth from the Donegal Weather Channel

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