IT’S THE BEAST OF ST PATRICK!
Siberian weather will make it a bitterly cold March 17th, with temperatures of MINUS four (but that won’t stop the party)
ST Patrick’s Day revellers be warned: the ‘mini Beast from the East’ is about to strike – bringing snow, ice and showers from Siberia this festive weekend.
Met Éireann has already issued a Yellow weather alert for today, warning that showers will rain on many parades early on, soon turning to snow on high grounds – which will spread to most places in the eastern coastline counties.
Temperatures will drop as low as -4C tonight, and parts of the country will wake up to snow tomorrow morning. Met Éireann has issued an Orange alert – the second highest weather warning – from 3pm tomorrow.
However, while the meteorologists are telling parade-goers that today will be ‘bitterly cold’, so revellers, particularly those with young children, should wrap
up warm, parade organisers across the country are determined to see everyone having a good time.
While Dublin parade-goers will see stars of Game Of Thrones and Star Wars, revellers around the country will be entertained by fife and drum bands ringing in the day, ‘Daft Raft’ races, duck races and even 40 floats sailing down the Boyne.
‘The worst of the snow showers will be in the east, around the Wicklow Mountains, but some lower levels will get snow as well,’ a Met Éireann forecaster said. ‘The low temperatures, coupled with the strong easterly winds and added wind chill, will make it very cold,’ she added.
And there will be no let-up tonight, with sleet and snow showers, mainly in the east and some midlands areas, with fresh to strong and gusty northeast winds.
The cold weather will be even worse in London, where 20,000 Irish fans hope to see our rugby heroes make history by beating England in Twickenham to secure only our third ever Grand Slam victory.
There, temperatures could drop as low as -1C during the crunch encounter, which kicks off at 2.45pm. And the city could see up to eight inches of snow across the weekend.
But those fearing a return of the blizzard conditions that paralysed roads at the beginning of the month need not panic.
According to meteorologist Martin Bowles, of the UK’s Met Office: ‘We don’t expect it to be Beast from the East Mark II; you could call it a mini Beast from the East, I suppose, as it is a less severe version of it.’
This weekend’s freezing weather comes less than a fortnight after the ‘Beast from the East’ brought several feet of snow in many areas, shutting schools and businesses here and wreaking havoc on the country’s water infrastructure.
The severe cold will remain tomorrow with sleet and snow showers becoming more widespread for a time, with further accumulations. However, showers will die out again later that day. Northeast-to-east winds will be fresh to strong adding a wind chill to the afternoon temperatures of just one to four degrees.
Tomorrow night will be mostly dry with just the odd wintry shower continuing in the east.
According to Met Éireann, Monday will be mostly dry with the odd wintry flurry expected.
Parade organisers across the country are bracing themselves for the chill winds but are determined to go ahead.
Game Of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham will serve as Grand Marshal for the Dublin parade, which will also be attended by President Michael D Higgins and actor Mark Hamill, Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars series. And several quirky events are taking place across the country.
The west Kerry parish of Baile na nGal was due to host the first parade last night at one minute past midnight, with Dingle’s Fife and Drum community welcoming the day with a dawn parade.
In Trim, Co. Meath, a ‘Daft Raft Race’ takes place on the River Boyne at 1.30pm, where local organisations participate in fancy dress, using handmade boats to race to the finishing line to raise money for charities. In Athlone, a duck race will kick off at Athlone Boat Club at 4.30pm. Crossmolina’s Electric Light Parade will see tractors, cars and buses light up with Christmas lights at 7.30pm and drive through the streets. And parade-goers in Laois should look out for Ireland’s largest uni-cycle, which will be one of features in the parade starting at 12.30pm.
Meanwhile, in Athlone, up to 40 floats are expected to take part in the parade on the River Boyne at 2.15pm.