“It now looks increasingly likely that Ireland will be impacted by one of the worst spells of wintry weather since 1982.”

A weather forecaster in Offaly is predicting that Ireland will be hit by one of the worst spells of wintry weather seen in the country in 35 years next week. After Met Éireann issued a week-long weather warning and predicted “exceptionally cold” conditions for next week, Cathal Nolan from Rhode in Offaly says that “it’s certainly not beyond the realms of possibility that some areas of the Midlands may see as much as 30-40 cm” of snow. Nolan, a qualified meteorologist, regularly posts forecasts on the Midland Weather Channel on Facebook and on Saturday morning, he predicted that temperatures could drop as low as -10 degrees on Wednesday and Thursday. Nolan also forecast “blizzard conditions” with the heaviest snowfall likely to arrive on Thursday and Friday in what he predicts will be one of the worst spells of wintry weather in Ireland since 1982. “This truly has the potential to become an extreme weather event,” wrote Nolan, who issued a precautionary red weather warning, which he expects to be issued by national authorities at some point on Wednesday. As a result, Nolan expects that schools and universities in the Midlands region will close and that road travel will grind to a halt due to the quantities of snow, “with even motorways likely to become impassable if the worst of the weather does develop as forecast”. You can read Nolan’s forecast in full below; Met Éireann, for their part, have stated that their weather advisory, currently in place until next Friday, 2 March, will be continuously updated in the coming days.