Yellow weather warnings have been issued for the south of the country as Storm Goretti approaches Ireland.
Met Éireann said snow and rain warnings for Cork, Kerry, Waterford and Wexford will be in place from Thursday afternoon.
The weather agency said there could be heavy rain which will turn to sleet and snow in some places, particularly on high ground.
The alert was issued on Wednesday morning and will be in place from midday to 8pm on Thursday.
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Potential weather impacts include hazardous travelling conditions, spot flooding, poor visibility and icy patches.
A status yellow gale marine warning has been issued from Carnsore Point to Dungarvan to Mizen Head from 2pm on Thursday to 12am on Friday.
The UK Met Office has issued a status yellow ice warning for Northern Ireland from 12am to 10am on Thursday.
Waterford City and County Council said its team is treating more than 500km of roads to make them safe and passable. However, it urged motorists to “remain vigilant when travelling, particularly at night as even on gritted roads conditions may be challenging”.
The forecast for the island of Ireland over the next few days is for cloudy and occasionally wet conditions with temperatures above the recent cold snap.
Weather authorities across Europe say further low temperatures, ice and snow associated with an incoming area of low pressure are likely to hit from Thursday onwards.
Met Éireann said there would be rain and sleet or snow further south on Thursday, but there would be drier and possibly brighter conditions to the north with just some coastal showers.
Highest temperatures of three to seven degrees, with light variable winds becoming northwesterly and increasing light to moderate through the day.
Friday looks set to offer plenty of dry and bright weather in many parts of Ireland. However, showers will feed into Atlantic counties, with some wintry in nature. Highest temperatures will reach three to seven degrees, with light to moderate west to northwest winds, fresher in Atlantic coastal areas.
Met Éireann said conditions are expected to remain unsettled into the weekend with mixed conditions lasting into next week.
It has been a different picture in Britain and Europe where the last two days have already seen temperatures as low as -12.5 degrees on England’s east coast. More than 1,000 schools were closed across on Tuesday due to the snow.
Almost 200 UK flights were cancelled and many roads were declared impassable.
In Europe six deaths – five in France and one in Bosnia – have already been attributed to weather.
