Orange warnings for Cork, Kerry and nine other counties ahead of 'multi-weather hazard event'

These warnings will be in effect from 5pm Saturday until 5pm Sunday.

A separate status orange rain and snow warning has also been issued for Cork, Kerry, and Waterford covering the same period.

A cold & frosty start today with fog patches in the N🥶

Cloud will thicken from the S during the morning with rain developing in S coastal areas🌧️

Rain will extend N over the S half of the country during the afternoon, turning to sleet & snow in some areas🌧️🌨️

Highs: 0 to 4°C pic.twitter.com/cBb2vv1Tes

— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) January 4, 2025

These same three counties will also be under a status yellow rain warning from 1pm to 5pm on Saturday, while Wexford will be under a yellow rain and snow warning from 5pm Saturday until 5pm Sunday. 

In addition, a status yellow snow and ice warning will apply to Cavan, Donegal, Monaghan, Dublin, Kildare, Longford, Louth, Meath, Westmeath, Connacht from 5pm Saturday until the same time the following day. 

Met Éireann forecasts significant snowfall in areas under orange warnings, with potential impacts including hazardous travel conditions, poor visibility, delays to public transport, localised flooding, and risks to animal welfare. 

Difficult underfoot conditions are also expected, and weather advisory for sleet and snow is also in place for the entire country until Monday. 

Cork County Council's Severe Weather Assessment Team convened this afternoon. The Council says its crews have inspected "key high-risk areas and will continue to monitor the situation throughout the period". 

A spokesperson for the Council said sandbags and pumping arrangements have been put in place in certain areas, flood barriers are being erected in Fermoy and Mallow as a precautionary measure. 

"Motorists are asked to avoid unnecessary journeys as driving conditions will be hazardous. Never drive through flooded roads, the depth of the water can be deceiving," the spokesperson said. 

"The Council will continue to implement its Winter Maintenance Plan which involves treating identified priority routes across the county."

The Department of Education has said that a decision on whether schools should close on Monday “is a matter for individual school management authorities around the country”.

A spokesperson said it is carefully monitoring developments and a decision to close must be made “in light of local weather conditions, taking into consideration the full guidance and direction available from the principal response agencies”.

“Any decision to close is taken in the interest of child safety, having assessed the local risks and having consulted, as appropriate, relevant authorities,” the spokesperson said. 

“The ‘Be Winter Ready’ website includes advice for schools on dealing with issues related to weather conditions, including colour-coded warnings and health and safety and direct links to relevant circulars.”

Earlier, Met Éireann's Gerry Murphy said the question of schools opening back from Christmas break on Monday cannot be answered until the weekend, depending on the accumulations of snow.

“There is likely to be accumulations of snow in places on Monday morning, coupled with a very severe frost as well. So there's the possibility that schools may not open, but that will become more apparent as we go through the weekend,” he said.

“As we get more details on the exact accumulations of that snow, it will give us more information on the exact types of warnings that we will be issuing today and tomorrow,” he said.

The cold air is expected to remain until next week, with a northerly breeze passing over the country and keeping temperatures low.

Mr Murphy said the low temperatures will mean the snow would be “slow to melt” in places, which, coupled with frost at night, will result in sub-zero temperatures.

It comes as sub-zero temperatures were recorded in parts of the country overnight, with Oak Park in Carlow and Athenry in Galway among the coldest weather stations.

People can expect another "frosty night" later with "temperatures expected to get down as low as –3C or –4C," Mr Murphy said.

Conditions had taken a “cold and sharp” turn, he said, and people should expect a “multi-hazard weather event” over the weekend and into next week.

He said there would be sleet and snow in many areas on Saturday evening and into Sunday.

"It will most likely fall as rain down along the south coast, but it must be said that the amounts of rain expected in the south and southwest are quite high, so it's likely that we'll see rainfall warnings at least in the southwest of the country,” he told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.

While snow and sleet can be expected in much of the country, he said it looks like it will fall “predominantly” over the southern half of the country and then over much of the midlands and the west on Saturday night.

“Counties in the northeast mightn't fare too badly because there's an easterly wind,” he said.

“It’s very difficult to pinpoint but really as we go through tomorrow night into Sunday all areas can expect sleet or snow at some stage.”

A Met Éireann advisory issued for the weekend said that we can expect sleet and snow in parts through to Monday.

Conditions will become drier towards the start of next week, with a bitterly cold Arctic airmass across the country and bringing temperatures as low as -10C by Tuesday night.

“There’ll be treacherous conditions with some significant accumulations of lying snow along with widespread severe frost and ice,” Met Éireann said.

Meanwhile, a Limerick homeless charity that runs a nightly street outreach said some rough sleepers attempting to seek shelter from the cold on Thursday night had to be turned away.

Novas head of advocacy Una Burns said the charity had six individuals who they were unable to accommodate on the first night of the cold snap.

"That’s very difficult for the staff and particularly for the people that are presenting to the door services looking for support. You're trying to support people to live and we encourage them to access friends and family, if that's a possibility for them,” she told the same programme.

Ms Burns said the charity is “particularly concerned” for non-nationals, who are without regular support networks.

“We have more homeless people here than we've had previously. And obviously, because of the surge in demand and capacity, homeless services are finding it very hard to keep up with the pace,” she said.