WE’VE BEEN ENJOYING (and in some cases, enduring) winter’s first dusting of snow over the last few days.

Met Éireann issued a snow and ice warning for the north-west of the country yesterday.

And it appears at least one snow cloud made it quite a bit further south. 

This was the scene, just after dawn this morning, when photographer Billy Horan and his cousin made it to the iconic cross on top of Kerry’s Carrauntoohil…

{Billy Horan} {Billy Horan}

“There was blizzard like conditions up there at times but we enjoyed it,” Billy told TheJournal.ie.

It could all have been so different, of course — the five metre cross on top of the mountain was cut down by vandals on 22 November, with community groups coming together the following weekend to put it back up.

{Billy Horan} The 'Devil's Ladder' at the shoulder of the mountain. {Billy Horan}

In terms of the current weather outlook — the next few days look to be a snow-free zone. 

It will be cold tonight, with temperatures dropping to minus one, but tomorrow will be rainy and wet, and windy — with further blustery conditions to come on Wednesday too.

Resurrection: The five-metre cross on Carrauntoohil has been put back up

Michael Healy-Rae: Whoever cut down the Carrauntoohil cross is some sort of anti-Christ

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