Snow is unlikely, but lively Christmas tailwinds may help Santa beat the clock

IT’s unlikely to be a white Christmas this year unless you live on a top of a mountain in Donegal but Met Éireann has warned of stormy weather in the days running up to Christmas, with potentially damaging winds.

Christmas Day will start off frosty but will be dry and bright for most of the country. The west and northwest will have showers during the day, with a mix of rain and hail and maybe sleet in places. Temperatures are predicted to be around 5–8ºC.

However, the weather will change rapidly tonight, with stormy weather arriving for much of Monday.

Met Éireann meteorologist David Rogers, said there could be potentially damaging winds following generally showery weather today.

‘That’s all going to change very rapidly on Sunday night as we go into Monday.

‘We’re in for a very windy period through Monday with rain sweeping across the country during Monday morning,’ he said.

‘There is a high possibility of stormy conditions developing over a large part of the country and continuing through Monday night and into Tuesday.

‘The west and north of the country will bear the brunt of the high and possibly damaging winds. But all places will be persistently windy,’ Mr Rogers added.

‘There will be showers on Tuesday, mainly over the west of the country, but there is no signal of significant snowfall anywhere.

‘Going into Christmas Day, it will probably be a frosty morning in a lot of places but dry and bright and staying that way.’

Asked about the likelihood of a white Christmas Mr Rogers said it’s unlikely.

‘It’s not really going to happen unless you live on top of a mountain in Donegal. That doesn’t constitute a white Christmas.

‘The vast majority of the population live in the east and south of the country and are not going to see anything like snow,’ he said.

Paddy Power is currently offering odds of a white Christmas in Dublin at 2/1, Cork 11/4 and Galway 3/1.

There is potentially another spell of severe weather on its way for St Stephen’s Day as another Atlantic storm moves close to Ireland but it’s too early to predict its likely path.

Yesterday, ESB worked to restore power to 3,500 homes after lightning strikes cut off power in Kilkenny, Clonmel, Bandon and Arklow.

Irish Ferries has also cancelled all of its Swift sailings between Ireland and Holyhead for yesterday, today and Monday.

All passengers will be accommodated on their cruise ferry sailings.