Snow has been forecast for the northern half of the country on Sunday as a new Met Éireann weather warning comes into effect.
A status yellow warning for snow and ice is in place for Connacht and counties Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal, Dublin, Carlow, Kildare, Laois, Longford, Louth, Wicklow, Offaly, Westmeath and Meath. The alert is valid until 6pm on Sunday.
Conditions are breezy and cold on Sunday morning, with widespread rain, sleet and snow. Possible accumulations of snow are predicted in the northern half of the country.
Wet road conditions have been reported throughout the country this morning, with AA Roadwatch advising motorists to slow down and keep further distance between vehicles.
Sleet and snow are forecast to turn to rain as the day goes on, but wintry showers may persist in parts of Ulster. Temperatures tonight will drop to between 0 and 4 degrees according to Met Éireann, with Munster due to be slightly less cold, at 5-8 degrees.
Met Éireann forecaster Siobhán Ryan on Saturday said there is a “question mark” over how much precipitation will fall and whether or not it will fall as sleet or snow.
Flash flooding
Meanwhile, there were reports of serious flash flooding in counties Wexford and Wicklow with some parts of both counties getting almost 40mm of rain in a nine hour period up to 3pm on Saturday.
Gardaí on Saturday reported heavy flooding around Gorey, particularly on Main Street which is impassable.
Wexford-based Senator Malcolm Byrne said “nearly every river and stream locally seems to have burst its banks”.
In Wicklow there was flooding on routes north of Arklow town centre, especially through Ferrybank.
Wicklow fire brigade crews used a combination of pumping and sandbags to alleviate localised flooding in Ballyellin.
Much of the east coast is being battered by the remnants of Storm Justine, a tropical storm named by the Spanish meteorological authorities which brought heavy rain and damaging wind to the Iberian peninsula during the week.
Day-time temperatures will be between 1 and 5 degrees on Sunday, but will feel colder because of the wind-chill factor.
The cold weather is forecast to continue into Monday with further falls of sleet or snow over Ulster.
Temperatures will rise during the week but it will be unsettled with a lot of rain and wind.
