AN urgent “take great care” alert has been issued as black ice is already hitting Ireland as the country braces for a huge snow blast.
And the “freezing conditions” are not the last of this week’s weather woes as ‘stormy weather’ is set to batter the country over the weekend.
Ireland is under a low temperature and ice warning until tomorrow[/caption]
Black ice has already formed in parts of the country with one weather expert showing his car already frozen over[/caption]
A major storm is headed for Ireland come Friday night[/caption]
The black ice warning comes as the entire country has been under a Status Yellow low temperature and ice warning since 8pm tonight until 10am on Wednesday morning.
And the weather warning has been extended, kicking back in at 8pm tomorrow night until 10am Thursday morning.
As the icy conditions grip the country this evening weather expert Alan O’Reilly of Carlow Weather issued a major warning.
Posting a video of his car already frozen over earlier this evening, he said: “Just gone 7.25pm and the car is already frozen. Black ice on the car.
“It’s going to be a cold, cold night and it’s going to be very very icy so take great care tonight and early tomorrow morning folks.
He added: “It’s going to get very slippy.”
And issuing a Tuesday evening weather update he added: ” After that rain, sleet and snow today a lot of wet surfaces.”
Cavan, Donegal, Monaghan, Leitrim and Sligo are were on a yellow alert for winter’s first snow fall from 7pm on Monday evening until 8am this morning.
Alan shared a video this morning on social media of snow still falling in Carlow with snow sticking to grass but not the roads in the “first taste of winter”.
And as temperatures are set to fall to as low as -4C on Wednesday night even more snow is set to fall, in the south of the country this time.
Munster have been placed under a Status Yellow snow and ice warning from 4am on Thursday morning until noon.
Met Eireann has warned poor visibility and dangerous travelling conditions are expected as snow falls over Munster come early Thursday.
However, snowfall will ease off as the day conditions leaving a mainly cold day with highest temperatures of 2C to 5C.
But as the snow and ice warnings ease a major storm looks set to batter the country over the weekend.
‘INTERESTING’ FEW DAYS
Issuing an update on the “interesting” few days the Carlow weather front man explained: “Tomorrow will be bright and sunny for many parts but cold, it won’t really get above 3C or 4C in many parts.
“We have some weather system that’s going to develop and come close to Ireland and it looks like it’s going to catch some parts of Ireland.”
“On the weather models, it shows a risk of snow, especially in the South and Southwest, primarily the Southwest on some of the weather models.”
Alan added: “It looks like probably Munster is most at risk, but some parts of South Leinster could certainly see a risk of some snow as well.
‘STRONG WINDS AND VERY HEAVY RAIN’
“So if you have plans for early Thursday morning, you’re in the South and Southwest, you need to keep a close eye on this one.”
The weather expert had a major weekend warning as the stormy weather looks set to bring a “big change” come Friday.
He explained: “Then Friday night, a big change. Much milder but stormy weather moving in on Friday night into Saturday morning, with that storm bringing some strong winds and very heavy rain early on Saturday morning
“Looks like the worst of the storm will stay on the Atlantic and the system will feel or weaken a little bit, but then come back in across Ireland. So it is a very interesting few days of weather.
‘STORMY CHANGE’
“As I say, cold tonight and icy, risk of some snow, especially in the Southwest and the South, tomorrow night on Thursday morning, and then a stormy change, but milder on Friday night, Saturday, and into the weekend.”
Met Eireann is currently forecasting overnight temperatures to move back up to 0C on Friday night as the storm takes hold but will stay as low as -3C in some parts of Ulster.
However, the weather bosses warn some snow and sleet is still possible early Friday night before rain quickly takes over.
And they warned “localised flooding is possible” but did maintain there was still some “uncertainty” regarding the weekend storm forecast.
Snow was sticking in parts of Carlow as it fell over yesterday and today[/caption]
Further snow is expected to fall throughout the week[/caption]
