Colder this week, some wintry/snow showers, widespread frost and ice.

The ECM run looks fairly dry overall, but with the warm waters and a northerly features can pop up. This is assuming the ECM has this right. The wild swings in its output would not give you confidence that it has. Indeed discussion in America of the Models is that the issues with the lows might not be resolved yet, but given the cold air entrenched over us the latest runs are what you would expect to see happen, but that does not mean it will be this way in the end. So I think how cold it will be and for how long it will stay is still to be determined.

2 million leaflets were posted to households last week.

Also see: gov.ie - Be Winter Ready (www.gov.ie)

The elderly have been around the longest. I'm sure they've figured out the weather at this stage.

Seriously, we’re not talking about a severe freeze here. You’d swear this was the first time the country experienced a bit of frost by how things are going. Yeah it’ll be cold and we’ll get arctic air. Right now it’ll be potentially gone by next week. It’s nothing you wouldn’t ordinarily get this time of year. We just haven’t had this kind of scenario in a few years but we’ve had plenty of frosty spells before. The country won’t be snowlocked and, in the main it’ll be dry and cold. It’s probably the best type of scenario for cold.

Met Eireann ......... RED RED RED ALERT !!!!! Check on neighbours ...... Dont spare your oil ....

Reality

"weather can be notoriously hard to forecast ....... "

Well given the cold weather isn't due until Wednesday evening its probably too early to make that statement.

That sounds a tad extreme...do you think it's going to be that bad. Think I'll pass on travelling not worth the risk...

Most of us would have taken this forecast from Met in the first week of December.

Wednesday night: Bitterly cold with temperatures falling below zero degrees countrywide and as low as -3 or -4 degrees in some places. There will be a widespread sharp to severe frost and ice on untreated surfaces. Showers will move southwards over the country overnight and will fall as sleet or snow in some areas. 

Thursday: Very cold with temperatures remaining in low single figures. A mix of sunny spells and well scattered showers of sleet, snow and hail. The showers will become mainly confined to coastal parts of the northwest, north and east as the day goes on. Winds will be light and come from the north.

Thursday night: Another bitterly cold night with a widespread sharp to severe frost and icy stretches. Minimum temperatures of -4 to -2 degrees in a light north to northwest wind. Most areas will be dry and clear but there will be wintry showers at times near the coast.

Friday: Staying very cold with temperatures remaining in low single figures. Mostly dry with sunny spells, but wintry showers will persist near coasts, especially in the north.

Further outlook: Little change expected for the weekend; staying very cold with some wintry showers and widespread frost by night.

I thought the beast from the east was bad enough but someone just shared a headline from the DM on twitter “Brace for the Troll from Trondheim” A new low.

A lovely set of ensembles for 850hPa temps for around Carlow, some real wintry weather coming and lasting into the weekend. Very little precipitation showing but harder for models to pick up small changes that impact that. Really not expecting much snow away from Northern areas that could see a nice covering Thursday but the longer the cold continues the better the chance of snow developing.

I think the main messages for the general public is prepare for some real cold weather like we haven't seen in a few years but nothing we haven't seen before and don't expect much snow, the only real issue is the cost of heating homes for vulnerable and elderly. Most years we had this kind of cold many people just kept the heating on but this year that will be hard for many and especially this time of year with very little thaw by day from Wednesday.

Would love that .....

Colder.........