Today will be a bitterly cold and very windy day with a significant wind chill factor according to Met Éireann. There will be a mix of sunny spells and widespread wintry showers with a continued risk of thunder and localised flooding. Highest temperatures of 3°C to 6°C.

It will continue very cold and very windy into Monday night with strong to gale force west to northwest winds. Hail, sleet and snow showers feeding in with further accumulations of snow in parts and icy patches. Lows around freezing.

Tuesday

Tuesday will be a bitterly cold day and very windy with a significant wind chill factor. Very showery too, still wintry at times, with hail, sleet and snow. Westerly winds will be fresh to strong and gusty, with gales in western and northern coastal areas. Highs of only 3°C to 7°C.

Winds moderating overnight with some frost and ice developing too, and overnight lows of -1°C to 2°C.

Wednesday

Wednesday will be another cold day but with lighter winds, at least for daylight hours. A frosty start but sunny spells developing as hail, sleet and snow showers becoming gradually confined to Ulster.

At the moment it looks like turning wet and windy for Wednesday night followed by squally showers on Thursday with the ongoing risk of severe winds at times and wintry falls.

Farming forecast

Rain

For Monday and Tuesday widespread wintry showers some heavy and of hail, sleet and snow, will bring the potential for accumulations of snow in parts especially in the west and north and there is a yellow snow and ice warning currently in operation countrywide for both days.

Becoming warmer from Wednesday night as a frontal band of rain crosses the country from the southwest. For the weekend, current indications are that it will remain unsettled if somewhat warmer.

Temperatures

The coming few days will see colder than average temperatures across the country. They will start to recover from Wednesday night towards next weekend. Forecasted mean temperatures for the period of the next seven days will be around average for much of the country.

Sunshine

For the first part of this week, despite the presence of widespread wintry showers there will also be reasonable spells of sunshine. However, it will be duller towards the end of the week.

Drying conditions

Drying conditions will generally be poor for the period due to unsettled weather.

Spraying

Spraying opportunities will be limited this week due to wet and windy weather.

Field conditions

Most soils remain saturated or waterlogged and this is likely to worsen in the week ahead.