Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
LAST UPDATE | 20 hrs ago
A STATUS ORANGE low temperature and ice warning has come into effect for 15 counties this evening ahead of more “extremely cold” weather.
The weather warning for Carlow, Cavan, Donegal, Galway, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Tipperary and Westmeath will remain in place until 8am tomorrow morning.
A Status Yellow low temperature and ice warning is also in place for the whole country until 12pm tomorrow.
Met Éireann is warning that it will be extremely cold in those areas with widespread severe frost and ice with lying snow in some areas and patches of freezing fog. Potential impacts include dangerous travelling conditions on roads and underfoot, travel disruption and delays and animal welfare issues.
Weather stations in Athenry and Mullingar recorded temperatures of -7 degrees last night, with many other parts of the country also experiencing subzero conditions.
The National Emergency Co-ordination Group (NECG) met again this morning to discuss the ongoing response.
Very cold with widespread frost & ice or black ice❄️
— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) January 9, 2025
Most places will be dry early in the night, apart from a few wintry showers in the northwest🌨️
Cloud will increase across the southwest overnight & rain will develop in Munster, turning to sleet or snow on high ground☁️🌧️🌨️ pic.twitter.com/As95pnNKZl
In Northern Ireland, a Status Yellow snow and ice weather warning for Antrim, Fermanagh, Tyrone and Derry is in effect until 10am tomorrow.
Tonight is set to remain very cold with widespread frost, ice and some black ice. The national forecaster said most places will be dry early in the night, apart from a few wintry showers in the northwest.
Cloud will increase across the southwest overnight and rain will develop in Munster, turning to sleet or snow on high ground, while moderate to fresh easterly winds will develop in the southwest.
Otherwise winds will be light so patches of freezing fog will develop, the forecaster said. Lowest temperatures of -7 to -2 degrees.
Met Éireann meteorologist Brandon Creagh told RTÉ’s Drivetime programme this evening that the country can expect to see the cold snap start to ease up from tomorrow, but people should still be careful over the weekend as the thaw will be gradual.
“We do have a warm front slowly making its way towards the southwest, and that’s going to gradually bring temperatures up across today, tomorrow and into Saturday.” Creagh said.
“Saturday is when we’ll see a proper thaw across the country with the snow melting, but for tonight into tomorrow, as that snow melts in the places that still have a good deal of snow and ice, that could possibly freeze again tomorrow night, so we could get some ice again tomorrow night.
“But then as we head into Saturday, we get the warm front pushing up across the country, a high pressure system developing to our southeast, which is going to bring more warm air from the south as we head into the weekend.”
Speaking to RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland this morning, meteorologist Matthew Martin confirmed that Mullingar experienced freezing temperatures of nearly minus eight degrees last night, the lowest in the country. He added that the lowest temperature ever recorded in Ireland was minus 19.1 degrees in Sligo in 1881.
The lowest of the 20th or 21st century was -18.8 degrees at Lullymore, Co Kildare in 1979.
The National Emergency Coordination Group urged road users to treat every road as treacherous in the context of widespread black ice, to only make essential journeys, to drive slowly and allow extra time for travel.
Cork County Council has reported “significant challenges” in north and north-west Cork due to compacted snow and ice.
Both the Defence Forces and external contractors have been dispatched in Cork to try to help efforts to deal with the weather impacts.
Keith Leonard, National Director of the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management, said the weather is going to be “bitterly cold right out until Friday afternoon” and conditions will remain “very difficult” across the country.
He said an Orange warning means that people should be prepared and take account of the local conditions that they find themselves in.
This video of the road conditions on the N21 Castleisland to Abbeyfeale road shows the heavy snow falling and the poor driving conditions. #StaySafe pic.twitter.com/Ui4v7jbEAk
— Kerry County Council - Comhairle Contae Chiarraí (@countykerry) January 9, 2025
Keith Leonard of the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management said that the end of the extreme cold is in sight, but the public should still be vigilant when walking and driving, as surfaces can look “deceptively safe”.
“We are continuing to coordinate a cross-government response to ensure the most appropriate supports are happening at local level, and we remain particularly focused on getting those who are still without power or water reconnected as quickly as possible.,” he said.
There were fewer than 200 homes, farms and businesses without power as of lunchtime. That’s down from 59,000 on Sunday. The ESB says the remaining customers affected will have their power restored some time today.
Meanwhile, Uisce Éireann has said the “vast majority” of the 40,000 people whose supply was disrupted at the weekend now have their water back.
However, it said that as the extremely cold weather thaws, it could lead to an increase in bursts and leaks in the coming days.
For Liam Galvin, Fine Gael Councillor for Abbeyfield, Co Limerick, conditions haven’t improved much over the last couple of days.
“The snow has gotten so hard, it’s just like concrete now. So the snow ploughs effectively aren’t doing their job,” he told RTÉ’s Claire Byrne Live.
“There are people that are still isolated … Even with the roads that have been ploughed, we still can’t access some private houses.
Meanwhile, homeless services have ramped up operations to try to help homeless people during the cold snap, which can be a “life and death situation”.
Additional reporting by Lauren Boland.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
End of this year this will still be top 5 warmest years on record no doubt
@Tony Skillington: journal headline on the 1st of February – ”its official! Jan 2024 hottest on record!”
@Finn Barr: 2025 lol
@Tony Skillington: a week of cold weather doesn’t dictate the overall yearly average temperature, surely you know this
@eoin fitzpatrick: It seems like a very simple concept, yet …
@eoin fitzpatrick: thank you, i was about to type the same. Some people really are clueless. We’re having a cold snap, we could potentially have a very warm summer. Why do people always think there’s some conspiracy going on.
@eoin fitzpatrick: Of course he doesn’t! He can’t grasp the concepts of ‘climate’ and ‘weather’.
@Tony Skillington: Quite possibly. Great to see you know the difference between weather and climate!
@Tony Skillington: You don’t know how numbers work. Nothing to be ashamed of
@Tony Skillington: so true
@eoin fitzpatrick: During the summer when somewhere gets a serious blast of heat – that’s weather and not climate then? Correct?
@Brendan O’Brien:
Would you ever go away? The only “simple concept” around here is you.
@Laois Weather:
They make it up as they go along, I bet whoever coined the phrase “global warming” feels a bit silly now !
@Laois Weather: i don’t know, you’re the expert no? i was making the point that a week of cold weather doesn’t mean 2025 can’t still be one of the hottest years on record, and going on recent trends, it probably will be.
@eoin fitzpatrick: You’re setting the bar very low on the definition of ‘expert’. Actual experts know not to put much faith in forecast charts beyond the 5-day range, much less hawk these ‘forecasts’ to tabloid rags who then parrot them with a clickbait headline.
@Tommy Roche: the guy I was responding to is some armchair meteorologist who thinks he knows more about the climate than the met office and nasa
@eoin fitzpatrick: Knows tenfold more than you and your sensationalist ilk. Slandering a mans reputation because you have zero comeback to his points is a dangerous game. A muppet of the highest order.
@Laois Weather: that question was embarrassingly dumb for someone with “weather” as part of their name
@eoin fitzpatrick: Aren’t you the smart one!
@eoin fitzpatrick: Of course he knows, but if he admitted that, then he’d have nothing to moan about.
Those Heat Pumps are fabulous when you’ve no power for 5 days “sarcastic”
@Jamie Hinch: I only you had solar panel :)
@Colm O’ Shea: Depends on how many panels you’d have. Going by the mini mansions around us anyway they need to add alot more..
@Jamie Hinch: You’re a gas man
@Colm O’ Shea: Solar panels don’t work when there’s a power outage for the vast majority. They work in conjunction with the power supply….. Safety feature
@Karl Keane: Nope, solid fuel all the way ♡
@Jamie Hinch: :)
@Jamie Hinch: I bet the EV drivers were happy when they couldn’t charge
@Jamie Hinch: so, just like the oil and gas heating then….
@Hector turtlehead: So you think Evs need to be changed daily when average commutes are about 20km? You really are simple aren’t you?
@FoxyBoiiYT: charged daily i meant
@Hector turtlehead:
EV’s – Cars for those who know nothing about cars…
@FoxyBoiiYT: Always capitalise the “I”, simp. Don’t trip over yourself twice. Good lad.
@Marvin Dollery: frustrated teacher still on holidays
@Colm O’ Shea: Tried to get solar panels a few times, every company told me it was a complete waste of time as house not facing the right way with chimneys and the new apartment block next door blocking too much light. Well worth it on newer builds, but not always suitable on older homes, But the aga gives off great heat.
Tomorrow’s article in the Journal:
“the first 9 days of January 2025 have been the hottest recorded since 2024. You may ‘think’ it’s cold & ‘feel’ like it’s cold but it’s really not.”
@Jim: why would they have such an inaccurate article?
@Jim: take your meds
@Lance Taylor: He claims to be rounding up strays in his area to care for them! A multi-ID troll with a heart of gold.
If people believe that, they’ll believe anything.
@Brendan O’Brien: Seems you’ve resorted to pettiness and childishness yourself. Your condescention and toff-like personality is a million miles for admirable.
@Marvin Dollery: ignore him, a very devious troll who uses multiple accounts. He even cloned me a year ago and I had to create a new profile.
@Lance Taylor: I’m feeding the foxes. I bought a big supply of hearts. I also give them chicken it’s.the.bords.i am a bit worried about. I bake large trays of, flour, eggs. Sugar. Oil, nuts and mixed fruit. I also change large bowls.of water a few times a day.
I hope I’m not doing more harm than good.
@Lance Taylor: Fake account talking to another fake account. You really need to get help. Or at least get a job.
@Marvin Dollery: Do you even know how many accounts you have now? Would you not do something with your life instead of being a layabout?
@Patricia Mc namara: this is great to hear, god bless you feeding the animals, you have saved their lives! You are a saint
@Ollie McGlinchey: I only have one account, Glinchers. I’ve already explained this to several other simpletons – nice try playing down my account though. Textbook weakling.
@eoin fitzpatrick: I’m pretty sure the journal is run by manatees.
@Marvin Dollery: ‘from’ not ‘for’ Marvin. Teaching the teacher. A shut mouth catches no flies.
@Lance Taylor: afraid I’m an old atheist. But it’s horrifying to think of any animal suffering hunger or thirst.
@Lance Taylor: Is Lance really your first name?
@Brendan O’Brien: you referring to me Benny boy?
Still nothing serious, compared with homeless man or woman on Dublin streets !
@sakk sa: there’s a big country outside of Dublin you know
@CP: not many jackeens know this.
@CP: A jackeen once told me that Roscommon was in Meath… Nothing exists outside the M50 to them.
@CP: actually I don’t know that !
@reg morrisey:
Ah we know alright, we just don’t care. Our backs are broken from carrying yis all the time… ;)
Watching a programme last night “life below zero” Man out trying to shoot a deer so he could have meat for the winter.It was -55 degrees.Some of the snowflakes on here complaining of less than -10.
@Willie Marty: I always bring a flask of hot soup out with me on my long treks to work. If I see any homeless people I always share my soup. Please do likewise people
@Lance Taylor: good stuff Lance.I wish i had a 4 wheel drive vechicle to go around to people although i did manage to take 2 bottles of water and milk to my elderly nieghbours next door.
@Willie Marty: I commend you sir this is brilliant work. Animals need feed as well so I will arrange bales for them
@Willie Marty:
Watched a child going to school in Russia at -49 today, school only closes when it goes below -50. Schools didn’t open here today until 11am. I can’t understand all the warnings.
Limerick Junction ACS (Met Eireann Climate Station) reached -8.0C last night at 10.30pm
Global warming sure is causing nice important cold winters, alot more ice and snow now adays my winters as a child where mild 50 odd years ago its great to see the winter season do what it suppose to do, enjoy it.
@Darran Macken: Do you want to try that again after your medication?
@Ollie McGlinchey: you lost any validation when you mentioned medication to a 70 year old man, take care.
@Darran Macken: But your validation was already lost when you stated, ‘the winter season do what it suppose to do.’ Winter isn’t supposed to do anything. It’s not autonomous. Winter is a label that we have applied to a part of the year. Winter comes and goes. Seasons change. Weather changes and climate changes. I acknowledge that education was historically lacking in some areas due to our understanding of the physical world. I hope you continue to enjoy many future winters.
@Darran Macken: all he is missing is young wippersnappers
Hope all vulnerable people a keep warm and safe during this cold spell.
@Ned:
Definitely not a time to be sleeping in a doorway. A lot will be though.
@Ned: They can have a bed in a homeless shelter, as long as they have €14.50 to pay for it.
@Ann Reddin: Which is a ‘contribution’ and doesn’t have to be paid if they cannot afford it.
With all these low temperatures, I see a whole bunch of drivers think this means they should drive continously far below the speed limits hogging the outside lanes so no one can get past them, even with the dual carriageways and motorways gritted with no ice present. Did any of the idiot drivers who do this actually read the rules of the road? There are plenty of tutorial videos on YouTube teaching correct lane discipline. It’s clear a huge % of drivers need to watch them because the centre and outside lane hogging that goes on in Ireland is appalling. The RSA and Gardai have completely failed to address this issue. Drivers who do this cause road rage, create traffic congestion behind them and this all increases the volume of accidents on our roads.
“those heat pumps aren’t much use during a power cut, hohoho”
Yeah, neither is any boiler.
Those houses with heat pumps will have far better insulation however.
Move on , not in Dublin
have your say