Linda: This is just a short, sharp shock
Met Eireann forecaster says it’ll warm up from weekend
IT feels like the coldest Ireland gets with below zero temperatures lasting into the day.
But Met Eireann’s Linda Hughes says the big freeze we’re currently experiencing is more a short, sharp shock.
It’s just we find it colder – and more difficult to endure – after a long run of mild, wet weather.
And the short days means the day never gets a chance to heat up, so there’s no break from it, despite clear skies.
The lows of -6 degrees – such as in Sligo yesterday – are freezing, but they are far from the lowest on record.
The record low of -19.1C was noted – also in Sligo – in January 1881.
More recently, spells of subzero temperatures unusual for Ireland were also recorded in 2022 and 2009/2010.
December 2010 was the coldest December on record, with nighttime temperatures of -10C. Mount Juliet in Kilkenny recorded a low of -16 degrees.
They reached as low as -17.5°C in Co Mayo on Christmas Day that year .
Ballyhaise in Cavan had the coldest day on record at any station in 2010, when the temperature only got up to -9.4°C all day.
Other memorable big freeze years were 1947, 1982 and 1963.
We haven’t had a run of ice cold weather since 2022, when Arctic blasts took it down to -7C.
The Arctic mass is what’s causing the frost this time too, but it’s about to be pushed out by warmer air.
It’ll be gone by the weekend, when a “drastic” change will see temperatures rise up to 13 degrees Meteorologist Linda said: “The coldest it ever got in Ireland was -19.1 in Markree, Sligo in 1881.
“That was both the coldest January and the lowest temperature ever recorded.
“We’re very far off that – but still, it has been very cold. Temperatures were -6.7 degrees in Sligo at nine or 10 in the morning yesterday.”
She added: “We haven’t had many long cold spells, so we’ve been getting used to milder weather.
“We’re not used to any prolonged coldness so when you come out of that into a sudden few days of cold bright weather, you’ve forgotten what it feels like.
HEAT
“The freezing temperatures are continuing all morning and it doesn’t heat up at all. It’s only about 2C in the afternoon.”
Linda continued: “This time of year the nights are so long there isn’t enough time for any heat to penetrate from the sun. It’s only heating up and then the sun goes and they plummet again.
“The roads temperature was -5C yesterday and stayed near or below freezing all day.” So why hasn’t it snowed?
She explained: “It’s too dry to snow.
“There’s nothing coming out of the sky – not in the east, but there’s snow in Ulster and north Connacht. Anything falling will be sleet or snow.”
Unlike the Big Freeze of 1947 – the coldest spell in living memory – our cold snap won’t last days. A change in air mass means warmer air will come in from warmer climates and push out the cold air.
Said Linda: “A dramatic change is forecast for this weekend and next week, when it will be 11C to 13C in places. Such a contrast from below -6C on Wednesday and Thursday night.”