Wet, wild but mild and no snow in Met Éireann Christmas weather forecast
Wet, windy and mild before turning a little cooler on Christmas Day
The Christmas weather forecast from Met Éireann for Ireland is not very Christmassy with not a flake of snow or even frosty weather for Santa's snow to slide smoothly to Laois.
Instead, the meteorological service says Ireland is set to stay mild and at times with wet and windy up to Christmas Eve before temperatures fall back somewhat for Christmas Day.
The temperatures look set to stay in the low teens with some windy weather and persistent rain at times. Temperatures will fall into single digits for most places on Christmas Day with more rain and wind on the way. MORE BELOW.
National Forecast issued at 4.17 on Friday, December 22
Saturday: Mild, breezy and mostly cloudy with patches of rain and drizzle at first. Later in the afternoon, more persistent rain will move into the northwest and will extend across the country during the evening. Winds will become stronger too. Highest temperatures of 10 to 12 degrees in a moderate to fresh and gusty west to southwest wind, increasing fresh to strong later.
Saturday night will be wet and windy with strong and gusty westerly winds and widespread rain, heavy at times. Staying very mild with overnight lows of 8 to 11 degrees.
Sunday: Continuing wet and rather windy for Sunday morning with outbreaks of rain for all areas but particularly heavy at times in the west and north. Rather fresh southwesterly winds will persist through the day with highs of 11 to 13 degrees.
Cloudy with outbreaks of rain and drizzle on Sunday night. There will be some dry weather later in the night mainly in the midlands with patchy drizzle persisting around coastal areas. The southwest winds will ease a little with lows a little cooler than recently of 6 to 9 degrees
Monday (Christmas Day): Rather cloudy and wet to begin. Outbreaks of rain and drizzle will move over western counties at first with some sunny spells in the east. Later in the morning rain will move over southern counties, which may be heavy at times too. The westerly winds will be fresh at times and possibly strong along western counties. Highest temperatures of 7 to 10 degrees.
Any rain will start to clear away with cloud breaking up too on Monday night: . There will be some long clear spells in the south and east during the night with any rain becoming confined to the far northwest overnight. Cooler than previous nights with lows of 2 to 5 degrees in a weakening westerly breeze.
Tuesday: Current models indicate a rather unsettled day. There will be bands of rain moving over southern counties but it should stay drier and perhaps brighter further north. Highs of around 8 to 11 degrees in a light southeast breeze.