It will become dramatically colder on Thursday, with the prospect of freezing temperatures over the coming days.
Temperatures will fall to minus 3 on Thursday night and into Friday morning, and the intense cold snap will last until Sunday morning.
Northerly winds will see temperatures fall to between just 3 to 6 degrees on Friday during the day, but it will feel colder with the wind-chill factor.
This will lead to widespread frost and ice overnight. Rain belts that cross the country on Saturday evening may turn to sleet when it hits the cold air.
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The cold will disappear on Sunday morning as the wind swings around to the west, but it will be a wet day for many places. The unsettled weather will continue into next week.
February is on course to be one of the wettest on record for Dublin, following on from an exceptionally wet January.
The Phoenix Park in Dublin has already surpassed its average monthly rainfall for February just nine days into the month. As of February 9th, 56.3mm of rain has fallen in Dublin; the monthly average is 53.1mm of rain.
By contrast, the west of Ireland has had very little rain this month, with just 5.6mm falling at Mace Head in Co Galway and 12.6mm at Shannon Airport.
