Just when you think the evenings are getting longer and temperatures are rising.
Met Eireann has warned that Donegal will receive a blast of cold air with halt, sleet and snow also likely later this week.
The national forecaster has warned that temperatures will drop again on Thursday and Friday across the West and North-West.
Temperatures are expected to dip below freezing and as low as -2 degrees on Friday night.
The following is the official forecast from Met Eireann for Thursday and Friday as the cold weather returns.
“Thursday will be cold and bright with sunshine and showers, some heavy and of hail with the possibility of hail and thunder, with the showers most frequent across the western half of the country. Some of the showers will fall as sleet and snow, mainly over higher ground. Colder than recently with highest temperatures of 5 to 9 degrees. Breezy; with moderate to fresh and occasionally gusty southwest to west winds, stronger in the southwest.
“Thursday night will be cold with further showers, especially in parts of the west and northwest, where some will be wintry over higher ground. Mainly dry with long clear spells further east. Lowest temperatures of -1 to +3 degrees, coldest in the midlands and east, with some frost and ice. Winds will be moderate to fresh southwest to west, strongest in coastal parts of the west and southwest.
“Friday will once again be cold, breezy and showery, some of the showers heavy, of hail and some of sleet and snow, mainly over higher ground. The showers will be most frequent in the west, and there’s the chance that some will be thundery too. There’ll be bright or sunny spells too, the best of these further east. Highest temperatures of 5 to 8 degrees in moderate to fresh and gusty westerly winds.
“Showers will mainly become confined to coastal parts of the west and north on Friday night, and some will still be wintry over higher ground. Mainly dry elsewhere with long clear spells. Cold; with some frost and ice with temperatures falling to between -2 and +2 degrees, coldest in the midlands and east, in mostly light to moderate winds, fresher in the west and veering west to northwest overnight.”
