A cloudy day ahead with heavy rain later for Co Kildare as Met Eireann predicts a bitterly cold week with temperatures falling as low as 0C
By Kim O'Leary
It's set to be a mild, mostly cloudy start to the day with a few patches of drizzle for Co Kildare, with heavier rain forecast for later this evening as Met Eireann has warned of heavy and persistent showers with dense fog and frost developing in some counties this week with temperatures to drop as low as 0C on Thursday.
Generally dry for daylight hours, though more persistent rain will develop later this evening or early tonight.
Highest temperatures of 9 to 11 degrees Celsius. Southeast winds will freshen, backing westerly later in the day and easing.
Many areas will be wet early tonight as rain extends northeastwards. Staying wet for much of the night, though the rain will gradually ease off. Rain will persist in some eastern fringes. Whilst a clearance will develop many areas, mist will thicken into dense fog in parts; and where skies clear, frost will set in. Lowest temperatures of 0 to 6 degrees Celsius, in near calm.
Met Eireann said: "Tuesday will begin mostly cloudy and mild, with just a few spots of drizzle mainly appearing along south and east coasts. However a spell of persistent rain will move into Munster and Connacht during the afternoon, turning heavier here towards dusk."
Meanwhile, north and eastern parts of the country will see heavy rain for a time. The national forecaster said: "Whilst a clearance will develop in other areas, mist will thicken into dense fog in parts and where skies clear, frost will set in. Lowest temperatures of 0C to 6C in near calm."
However, while some are predicting a potentially white Christmas for Ireland, Professor Peter O'Donnell for Irish Weather Online has said that low pressure will bring 'increasingly cold weather' towards the weekend before Christmas.
He said: "The risk of very strong winds this coming weekend appears to be somewhat diminished but could return to the forecast, but it will more predictably be reasonably mild (8 to 10 C) with southwest winds and some rain. Next week offers two possible outcomes. One would be a gradual ramping up towards a noteworthy windstorm event by about Friday 21st as deep low pressure in the central Atlantic spawns a secondary disturbance (this from the European model). Other guidance suggests less intense low pressure coming in several waves and being followed by increasingly cold weather towards the weekend before Christmas, with some suggestions of the potential for snow in some parts of Ireland and Britain. There is nothing really carved in stone about either of these scenarios and a cynic might guess that some unknown third alternative will actually happen."
Professor O'Donnell added: "For now, it's a case of grab a chair and wait for the verdict by mother nature."
WEDNESDAY ... Brisk southeast winds, feeling rather cold despite highs of 9 to 12 C, occasional rain redeveloping in southwest and moving gradually further north and east. Winds southeast 50 to 80 km/hr.
THURSDAY ... Variable cloud, some outbreaks of showery light rain, lows near 3 C and highs 6 to 10 C, coolest in east Ulster and north Leinster where a chilly southeast wind is likely.
FRIDAY ... Becoming quite windy at times, outbreaks of rain, winds south to southwest 50 to 80 km/hr, highs near 10 C.
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