WARNINGS:THE DEPARTMENT of Health and the HSE issued a warning to people to be extra vigilant yesterday as Met Éireann described the weather forecast for the coming days as "very ominous".
Forecaster Vincent O’Shea said there was no sign of an improvement in weather conditions in the next 10 days and temperatures were expected to drop further.
“It’s very ominous unfortunately,” he said. Forecasting past a week was not very reliable but nevertheless the signs for the next eight to 10 days were not good. “If anything, it may even get colder in the next few nights,” he said.
Met Éireann last night issued a severe weather warning stating that snow showers overnight and today could result in accumulations of up to 5 cm. Temperatures will remain very low, with highs of zero to four degrees forecast.
Temperatures are expected to fall to -5 or -6 in the coming nights but could be as low as -8 to -10 in midland areas. “There will be no chance of a thaw in the daylight hours,” Mr O’Shea said.
Climate change expert Prof John Sweeney said the freezing conditions of recent weeks were not a sign of winters to come.
“It’s quite the opposite actually. It’s exceptional and it’s something that will occasionally happen, but less often in the future,” said the lecturer at the department of geography at NUI Maynooth.
He said winters in Ireland had become substantially warmer in recent decades and this cold spell was something that might happen every 40 or 50 years.
In its warning, the Department of Health and the HSE said cold weather was a particular problem for older people, children, people with a disability and those with long-term illness.
It advised people to eat well, keep active by walking around the house regularly and wear several layers of light clothes.
“In very cold weather sleep with warm bedding and warm pyjamas or night dress, wear bed socks and a night cap, and keep a flask with a hot drink by your bed,” it said.
The HSE advised using a room temperature monitor to make sure that the house was warm. The livingroom should be between 21 and 24 degrees. “If the temperature falls below 16 degrees you could be at risk of hypothermia.”
It urged people to take extra care when outside and encouraged people to look after older neighbours and collect prescription drugs for them.
“We must look out for each other in our communities to make sure no one is stranded or in difficulties,” said Dr Philip Crowley, deputy chief medical officer at the Department of Health.
The increase in people presenting at emergency departments as a result of slips and falls in the ice has been highlighted in recent days. Yesterday Dr Peter O’Rourke, an orthopaedic surgeon at Letterkenny General Hospital, said hospitals had been struggling to keep up with supplies of screws and plates to insert into fractured wrists and ankles. “I can’t remember a run on supplies as severe as this,” he said.“I saw 108 patients on Monday in the fracture clinic. Normally I would see 40 to 50.”
