TODAY will continue quite windy, especially over the western coastal regions, with northwest to north winds of 60 to 90 km/hr adding a chill to temperatures in most places around 4 to 7 C (some outer headlands in the west will be a bit milder as this strong wind interacts with ocean surface temperatures around 9 or 10 C). Bands of sleety showers will continue in a few places, sometimes rather heavy locally, and tending to change to sleet or snow when passing higher terrain.
TUESDAY will be partly cloudy with isolated wintry showers, cold and while not quite as windy, rather cold in the breeze (northwest 40 to 70 km/hr). Highs 4 to 7 C.
WEDNESDAY brings a risk of snow or sleet, depending on the track of low pressure trying to bring back a bit of milder Atlantic air. Most guidance shows this low tracking southeast into Kerry and south Cork before sliding back into the Atlantic. Areas to the north of its track could see 3-5 cm snowfalls or mixed rain and snow near sea level, so the track is important, any counties to the south of the track will see a slight rise in temperatures to 5-7 C and a bit of light rain, but areas to the north will have temperatures close to 1 or 2 C and wintry mixtures. Winds will turn light easterly during this event before resuming the northerly trend.
THURSDAY (31st) will be a cold, partly cloudy day with isolated wintry showers, lows near -3 C and highs near 4 C.
FRIDAY (New Years Day) is likely to be very similar, with partly cloudy to overcast skies, occasional light snow showers, and lows near -4 C, highs 3 to 5 C.
The OUTLOOK seems to be trending more towards a cold regime continuing for quite some time, those hints of a breakdown have disappeared from the models that had them yesterday, and the main trend seems to be towards more of a cold easterly flow into the first ten days of January, which could be a bit more conducive for snowfalls especially in Leinster and east Ulster, but also could bring even colder temperatures that start to get far enough below freezing at night that some persistent frost could develop.