It was this day 10 years ago that we found ourselves going into a second extreme cold spell.
This was introduced by a cold front sinking southward on 16 December 2010 bringing very cold air behind it to Ireland. This cold spell would become even more intense and extreme than the first (which occurred from 24 November to 9 December) in terms of depth of cold.
The temperature at 0900 on the morning of the 16th at Gurteen (Tipperary) was 8.1C but by 1500, it had dropped to 1.3C when the cold front had passed. It was all rain initially from the front but wintry showers formed in the unstable northerly flow behind it.
The cold would just get more and more harsh for a week up to St. Stephen's Day with the coldest conditions on 20th/21st and again on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day when Straide (Mayo) got down to -17.5C on Christmas morning, the December record low for Ireland.
- Seán, for IWO