Temperatures could drop as low as minus 11 degrees overnight as Met Éireann issued a new warning amid the continuing cold snap.
A status orange low temperature warning for 19 counties will come into effect at 6pm on Wednesday, with widespread temperatures below -5 degrees Celsius predicted, leading to severe frost and ice.
A separate status orange warning will be in place from Thursday at 6pm, with another extremely cold night forecast.
Status Orange - Low Temperature/Ice warning ⚠️
Extremely cold on Thursday night with temperatures below -5°C expected widely, leading to severe frost & ice. 📉 🥶
Valid: 18:00 Thursday 15/12/2022 to 12:00 Friday 16/12/2022
View all warnings here 👇https://t.co/l8JdKfwZt9 pic.twitter.com/HSyNTv2Tn5— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) December 14, 2022
Met Éireann meteorologist Joanna Donnelly said temperatures could drop as low as minus 11 degrees in some isolated areas.
"I have minus elevens showing up in my chart here. It went down to minus 7.5 overnight in Mount Dillon... That was the lowest temperature there last night," she told RTÉ's Morning Ireland on Wednesday.
"Typically the temperatures last night were about minus 4 or minus 5 degrees. The thing is that it is not going to get much warmer than that today."
Ms Donnelly said it would be Wednesday afternoon before temperatures rise above freezing, and they would fall again quickly by sunset.
The lowest ever temperature recorded in Ireland, minus 19.1, dates back over hundred years to January 1881, Ms Donnelly said.
She said the most recent low temperatures dates back to 2010 when we had a "really cold Christmas day of minus 17.5 in Mayo."
"But the 'Beast from the East' is probably the more familiar one that we can remember which was minus 9.7 on March 1st in 2018."
6 synoptic stations had their 2nd consecutive ICE DAY yesterday Tuesday 13th. These were Ballyhaise, Co Cavan, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, Gurteen, Co Tipperary, Mt Dillon, Co Roscommon, Claremorris, Co Mayo and Athenry, Co Galway
Advertisement— Irish Observational Climatology (@METclimate) December 14, 2022
Ms Donnelly said there will be no heavy snow showers during this current cold spell. "What generally happens in Ireland is that if you have really cold temperatures it is coming with an anti cyclone – that is dry, clear nights. Without any moisture in the air there is nothing to create snow."
She said snow on Christmas Day cannot be ruled out. However, she stressed that our climate means a white Christmas is unusual as it is generally too warm.
Met Éireann senior forecaster Gerry Murphy also said temperatures will gradually rise as the week goes on.
"At the moment we have daytime temperatures between 0 and 4 degrees. By Friday it will be up to between two and six. Saturday a little higher than that again. The proper mild weather comes in on Sunday. It will become noticeably milder on Sunday," he told RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne.
"Then however it becomes quite cold on Monday and Tuesday. But it will be a more typical cold. Not the same stagnant very cold air sitting over us."
