Met Éireann has warned people to brace themselves for freezing temperatures and widespread ice, with weather alerts issued for most counties.
The forecaster said it would be very cold on Thursday night with temperatures expected to fall below -3 degrees Celsius in many areas. Frost and ice will cause hazardous travelling conditions, it said.
A status yellow warning for low temperatures and ice will be in place from 6pm on Thursday until 12pm on Friday. The alert covers all counties in the Republic apart from Dublin, Wexford and Waterford.
The UK Met Office has a similar warning for ice in counties Derry, Down, Antrim, Armagh and Tyrone on both Wednesday and Thursday nights.
Met Éireann meteorologist Aoife Kealy said an Arctic airmass has moved over Ireland this week, bringing noticeably colder conditions.
"Daytime temperatures will struggle to get above the low single figures, especially from Wednesday onwards," she said. "Night time temperatures will be near freezing or below through the week too, so that means there’ll be widespread frost and some ice.
"On top of that, light winds will allow fog to develop overnight, becoming dense in places. Any frost, ice and fog will be slow to clear in the mornings, making travel difficult at times. So, extra care will be needed on the roads."
With air temperatures expected to fall below -3°C in many areas, a low temperature & ice warning has been issued 🥶
List of counties here 👇https://t.co/Xg3aMJlyuS
❄️Frost & ice developing
🚗Hazardous travelling conditions
⏲️Valid: 18:00 Thursday 30/11 - 12:00 Friday 01/12 pic.twitter.com/fO4eBk4AVd— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) November 29, 2023
However, Ms Kealy said the week will be largely dry with some spells of sunshine.
"There’s potential for patchy rain in the south on Wednesday night and there will be a few showers at times, especially in the north and east, but these showers will be light. So, overall there’ll be plenty of dry weather."
"On Thursday and Friday it’s possible that some showers will turn to hail or sleet with a chance of some snow, particularly over higher ground. But even where the showers do turn wintry, accumulations will be very small."
Further ahead, Met Éireann said this weekend and early next week will continue cold and mainly dry, with the risk of further frost and ice.
