Thursday, Christmas Day, 25 December 2014 Forecasts for Ireland TODAY ... Frosty in some places as the sun rises, and possibly patchy fog in valleys mainly eastern and southern counties. This should gradually clear to sunshine that will be dimmed by afternoon high cloud, but parts of west Munster will be cloudy all day. The northwest could see a few more wintry showers and these could leave traces of snow on higher ground. Highs 5-7 C. TONIGHT ... Some clear intervals in central and northeastern counties, frost and fog developing, lows there about -3 C. Cloudy elsewhere, isolated wintry showers, lows 2-4 C. FRIDAY (St. Stephens Day 26th) ... Rain will edge into the southwest after midnight and will slowly overspread the rest of Munster and south Leinster during the morning, with fog and a cold southeast breeze keeping temperatures around 5 or 6 C. Further north, mainly north of a Galway to Dublin line but including higher terrain south of that, mixed rain and snow, with snow possibly dominant over some areas to leave 3-5 cm accumulations by evening. This is more likely on hills and in parts of inland northern counties but as the system is very close to the rain-snow dividing line and the models have been backing off a milder solution, keep in mind that this could turn out to be a surprise snowfall event more widely than many anticipate. Highs in the north will struggle to reach 4 C and if it starts snowing temperatures will likely fall back to 0.5 or 1.0 C. There may be fog and freezing drizzle mixed in with this northern sleet and winds while not very strong will be unpleasantly chilly from the east backing into the north as the depression moves past Dublin by evening. FRIDAY NIGHT into SATURDAY ... Rain or drizzle in the south could change to sleet then wet snow, and snow will intensify for a time on hills while ending in the north. Lows about -2 C north to +2 south. Then the day may feature alternating cloud and sunny intervals with passing wintry showers, a cold northeast to north wind, and a late day band of sleet or snow, with highs possibly about 5 C in sunshine but temperatures would fall to 2-3 C in times with sleet or snow. SUNDAY to TUESDAY will be generally clear to partly cloudy and cold, although not severely cold -- nights may see isolated readings of -5 or -6 C but -2 C might be more typical. Days will manage to climb to about 4 to 6 C. However parts of the Atlantic coastal counties will enjoy their traditional milder southerly breeze that will not make much progress east of Galway to Cork. Highs there could reach 9 C. As WEDNESDAY (New Years Eve) and THURSDAY (New Years Day) are high travel days, stay tuned because there may be active weather returning from the southwest in the form of wind and rain, highs would be near 10 C. FRIDAY 2 January is currently being shown as a more settled day between storm systems under a strong but transient high pressure centre, so it could turn quite a bit colder briefly (highs near 5 C) but expect that to transition back to mild, wet and windy by about 4th or 5th and that may lead to about a week of rather stormy weather as the Atlantic begins to fight with massing cold air over Iceland and parts of Scandinavia. Many forecasters seem to feel that this winter will eventually turn a lot colder and certainly there is no shortage of arctic air to be found, and a healthy ice cover, whats been missing so far is stratospheric warming to get high pressure in a good place for western Europe. Instead much of the cold air has been situated in other portions of the hemisphere. The weekend weather system will bring a mixture of rain, sleet and snow to Britain, the dividing line will be generally from north-central Wales to north of London but elevation will play a role too. The storm becomes somewhat more intense by early Sunday as it moves across the southern parts of the North Sea into Belgium. Over North America, there has been a widespread rainfall with very mild temperatures in eastern regions. Somewhat colder air is replacing that today but not until after morning temperatures hit 15-17 C in the larger cities (daily records are closer to 20). Its closer to normal in the Midwest and northern plains states and turning colder in western Canada. My local weather was bright and chilly with shower clouds over the north shore mountains nearby, probably dropping hail or snow up above my elevation. Highs down near sea level were about 6 C. Once again, enjoy your Christmas Day celebrations and well reconvene at this same time on Friday morning to see where the ever-changing low is actually going to land (current track looks like north Clare through Offaly into Wicklow but frontal bands will be somewhat diffuse and I still think Galway to Dublin would be a good dividing line for types of precipitation as it moves through). (remember last winter, the first intense storm of the parade, IIRC, was on 26th Dec) -- Peter and your IWO team __________________________________________________
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 07:22:59 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015