'Wintry hazards' forecast with potential for sleet, snow and frost 

It will turn colder with showers coming in from the west on Thursday night, with sleet or snow falling in places. File picture: Denis Minihane.

Some sleet, snow, frost and ice is expected later this week as Met Éireann says low pressure will dominate before cooler air comes in with "wintry hazards" possible. 

Tuesday started cloudy with outbreaks of rain and drizzle, which is expected to become patchier later in the morning and early afternoon. More persistent rain will then move in from the west, with highs of 9C to 13C set for the day before it becomes dry later in the evening as the rain clears eastwards. 

Clear spells and some scattered showers will come in from the west, mainly affecting Atlantic coastal counties, with a chance of hail. Lows of 3C to 7C are set for the night. Wednesday will start dry and bright and stay the same for most of the day, with good spells of sunshine. Scattered showers will continue mainly for Atlantic coastal counties with some cloud developing later in the afternoon. Daytime highs of 8C to 11C are set for the day. 

It will take a turn on Wednesday evening, with showery outbreaks of rain moving eastwards with strong winds. The rain will be more persistent in the northwest until morning. 

Thursday will be a wet and windy day with outbreaks of rain, some turning heavy at times. Highs of 8C to 12C are set for the day, but it will be milder in the south, where the rain will be more persistent. 

It will turn colder with showers coming in from the west on Thursday night, with sleet or snow falling in places. Some frost and ice will also form with lows of 0C to 4C set for the night. 

Friday will see a mixed bag of weather, with cool and breezy with sunny spells and scattered showers. The showers will fall as sleet and possibly snow at times. Highs of 5C to 8C. 

Looking into the weekend, Saturday will be duller and milder, with cloud and rain going eastwards. Highs of 8C to 11C are set for the day. 

Current indications for Sunday show a cool day with blustery showers. 

Wettest February in years

The strategic lead in the European Centre with the Copernicus Climate Change Service, Samantha Burgess, has said that climate change was responsible for the wettest February in years.

“A more southerly jet stream and then a number of atmospheric rivers coming across the Atlantic really drove those storm tracks leading to that record amount of rainfall in many locations,” she told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland on Tuesday. 

"Parts of the southeast of Ireland, France and the Iberian peninsula were also heavily hit, she added. There were a number of factors which led to the heavy rainfall – including the fact that a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture so it rains more intensely and because the polar jet has moved further south.

"It was not unusual to have storms in February, but there had been seven or eight in a row, and that frequency of storms, with record amounts of precipitation, meant that the ground was “super saturated” and so could not absorb the rainfall, she explained.

"Temperatures had fluctuated throughout February, she said. It had been one of the coldest Februarys in the past 14 years for Europe with much colder averages in Scandinavia, up to three to five degrees much colder than average," Ms Burgess added.