Warning of snow and icy spells in the coming days

Snow is expected to fall across the country this week as temperatures plummet.

Met Éireann is warning that the worst days will be tomorrow and Thursday, with some areas getting a lot of snow.

It will turn bitterly cold from tomorrow with northwesterly winds becoming dominant and drawing cold air down from the Arctic.

Forecaster Jean Byrne said there would be a “fair covering” of snow in some places by Thursday.

However, Ms Byrne also stressed that Ireland’s weather was not connected at all to that currently being experienced in Europe.

“It is coming in from the Atlantic, it is entirely separate and definitely not anything as bad,” she said.

While the icy cold weather in Ireland was not usual, it was not a complete surprise either. “It is winter, and you can get cold snaps,” she said.

While temperatures would increase by a degree or two later in the week, it would remain icy.

“On Friday and Saturday many areas will not get any snow showers, but it will be very cold, with frosty nights and the risk of ice,” she said.

Saturday will be cold and frosty with sunny spells, but it will be day almost everywhere, with snow showers increasingly confined to the coastal fringes of the north and west.

Current indications for the weather on Sunday and beyond are for less cold conditions with anticyclonic conditions drifting in from the Atlantic.

Meanwhile, health chiefs are predicting that the flu epidemic will peak over the next few weeks.

However, the icy weather is expected to draw more people indoors, making it easier for the virus to spread.

The HSE’s assistant director of public health, Kevin Kelleher, said there was no need to delay the opening of schools during a typical flu season.

Dr Kelleher, speaking on RTÉ radio, said closing schools to stop the spread of infection might be considered during a pandemic.

Advice on fighting flu is available on the HSE’s website undertheweather.ie.

World: 9