All of Ireland will be under a low temperature and ice warning from 5pm this evening until 12pm Thursday.
28,000 homes, farms and businesses are without power as a result of the cold weather event affecting several counties across the country.
Worst affected areas are Limerick, Tipperary, Kilkenny, Carlow, Laois and Wicklow.
ESB Networks crews are currently restoring power where safe to do so - and information about outages and restoration times is available on www.PowerCheck.ie
Cathal Nolan at Ireland's Weather Channel says cold temperatures will continue for the rest of the week, but it's unclear what the longer term prediction is:
"There's a little bit of dis-agreement in the models in terms of where we progress after the end of the working week into next weekend. There are some sense of signs that high pressure may begin to build, that could settle things down, although would keep things on the cool side. There is another scenario of course whereby that high pressure pushes away to the Northeast and instead we get a Southerly flow and things begin to warm up and it'll be another couple of days before we're starting of that evolution"
SCHOOLS
Meanwhile, over 900 thousand children are expected back in school tomorrow after the Christmas break.
It's not yet known if schools will decide to close or not depending on the impact of the snow.
Teachers Union of Ireland General Secretary Michael Gillespie has this advice for parents:
"Either tonight - Sunday night or tomorrow morning - schools have very good communication systems now with parents through texting or even email. So schools will inform the parents in their usual way what's happening with the school tomorrow morning"
DUBLIN AIRPORT
Operations at Dublin Airport are moving well this morning following periods of rain and sleet overnight.
De-icing equipment has not been needed so far, but snow and ice teams remain on site, to deal with a threat of snow later this afternoon.
Heavy snow in the UK is having an impact on flight operations here, however, and passengers should contact their airline directly to check.
TRANSPORT
Potential impacts are said to include hazardous travelling conditions, poor visibility, travel disruption, and localised flooding.
Motorists are asked to avoid unnecessary journeys as driving conditions will be hazardous. Never drive through flooded roads, the depth of the water can be deceiving. Rainfall may limit the effectiveness of salting already undertaken. Motorists should continue to exercise care even where roads have been treated.
WEATHER WARNINGS
A status orange snow-ice warning is in place for counties Carlow, Kilkenny, Laois, Offaly, Wicklow, Limerick, Clare, and Tipperary until 5pm. From 5pm to 8pm, a status orange snow and ice warning will be in place for Carlow, Kilkenny, Laois, Offaly, Wicklow, and Munster.
The impacts are expected to include very difficult travelling conditions, poor visibility, travel disruption delays to public transport likely (air, rail, bus), difficult conditions underfoot, and animal welfare issues, Met Éireann said.
The All-Ireland semi-final between Errigal Ciaran and Dr Crokes that was meant to take place today has been postponed following a pitch inspection at Laois Hire O’Moore Park yesterday.
A status yellow snow-ice warning for Cavan, Monaghan, Dublin, Kildare, Longford, Louth, Meath, Westmeath, Wexford, and Connacht is in place valid until 5pm this evening.
Leinster, Cavan, Monaghan and Munster are also under a status yellow warning for snow and ice, valid until midnight.
All of Northern Ireland is under a status yellow snow and ice warning, valid until 6pm this evening.
All of Ireland will be under a low temperature and ice warning from 5pm this evening until 12pm Thursday, with Met Éireann warning that temperatures will struggle to get above freezing during the day with widespread frost and ice at night.
