Temperatures will drop below zero in the coming days as the wet and stormy start to the year gives way to more settled conditions.
Some places got between two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half times the average rainfall for the Christmas period. A very mild and wet December saw three named storms, and a fourth (Storm Henk) narrowly missed Ireland at the start of the year.
It has been an exceptionally mild and wet start to the year, but temperatures will decrease day-on-day and the weekend will see widespread frost and ice with lows of minus two to minus three by Saturday night.
However, it will be largely dry, says Met Éireann forecaster Andrew Doran-Sherlock. “It will be more frost than ice as most places will only get 10 per cent of the average rainfall. We will have much settled conditions. It’s been very unsettled of late.”
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Mr Doran-Sherlock said there will be an easterly airflow next week, which often brings with it snow and icy conditions, but there is little in the way of precipitation promised. “It will be cold and there will be frosty nights,” he predicted.
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December was stormy and wet with three named storms - Elin, Fergus and Gerrit - during the month.
In keeping with 2023 overall, temperatures and rainfall were above average almost everywhere. The average monthly temperature at Sherkin Island in Co Cork, at 9.6 degrees, was 1.6 degrees above the monthly average.
It rained every single day of the month at Valentia Observatory in Co Kerry, while Newport in Co Mayo had 13 very wet days, with more than 10mm of rain per day.
It was particularly wet on the western side of the country, with 293.8mm of rainfall during the month at Newport in Co Mayo and 214.2mm at Malin Head, which is almost twice the monthly average. The highest temperature of the month was recorded on Christmas Eve in Moore Park, Co Cork, at a relatively balmy 14.4 degrees. The month’s lowest air minimum was recorded on December 1st at Mount Dillon, Co Roscommon, at minus 5.8 degrees.
The month’s highest gust was reported at Sherkin Island, Co Cork on Wednesday 27th during storm Gerrit with 64 knots (119 km/h).
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