THE Taoiseach is urging Irish people to stay safe amid “significant snowfall” in the coming days.
Simon Harris shared a warning to X, formerly Twitter, noting that there was a meeting earlier today regarding the cold snap.
In the tweet he urged the public to “heed the weather warnings” and take necessary steps in the coming days.
He said: “I have been briefed by officials that there will be very cold temperatures over the next few days with widespread frost and ice. Parts of the country can also expect significant snowfall over the coming hours.
“A meeting of the National Directorate for Fire & Emergency Management (NDFEM) was held today, attended by @MetEireann & various other stakeholders.
“The meeting was convened to discuss the weather warnings for low temperatures, snow, rain & ice that are currently in place.
“I would encourage everyone to heed the weather warnings and ensure you take all the necessary steps over the coming days.”
Several people have been sharing pictures and videos to social media showing the snow making landfall this evening.
And it’s just hours before a status orange weather warning kicks in for several Munster counties from midnight.
Galway earlier had their warning upgraded and several other yellow level alerts are also in place across the country.
Around 5cm of snow or more is likely to fall in Galway, Cork, Waterford, Clare, Limerick and Tipperary, predicted to be the worst-hit counties during the -4C Baltic blast.
A 12-hour snow and rain orange warning kicks in for Cork and Waterford from midnight, while Galway, Clare, Limerick and Tipperary will be on orange alert for snow and ice for the same time period.
Met Eireann forecasters predict severe disruption once heavy rain changes to sleet and snow from around midnight.
They’ve warned of “very difficult travelling conditions, poor visibility, travel disruption across public transport and air, rail and bus, difficult conditions underfoot, animal welfare issues and possible flooding”.
Met Eireann also took to X to share the latest on the cold snap hitting Ireland this week.
In a tweet, the weather forecasters wrote: “Rain, sleet & snow will continue to spread from the W tonight, with accumulations likely.
‘ICY STRETCHES’
“Scattered wintry showers will affect parts of the N & NW.
“Very cold with lows of -4 to 0C, frost and icy stretches will develop”.
Tomorrow will see outbreaks of rain, sleet and snow clearing to the south in the morning.
It will, however, leave another very cold day with showers of rain, sleet and snow.
These will be most frequent across Connacht, Ulster and west Munster.
Be aware that some icy stretches will linger throughout the day.
Temperatures will range between just 1C and 4C.
