With many areas of the country already covered in a blanket of snow, Met Éireann has extended its Status Yellow low temperature and ice warning for all of Ireland until midnight on Friday (January 10).
From today (Monday, January 6), Met Éireann has said that there will be very cold nights this week with widespread frost, ice and lying snow. Temperatures will struggle to get above freezing during the day.
Potential impacts for the week nationwide include hazardous travelling conditions on roads and underfoot, along with travel disruption.
There is also a Status Yellow snow and ice warning for the whole country, with warnings of wintry showers bringing further accumulation of snow.
The national forecaster has warned of poor visibility and hazardous travelling conditions due to snow and ice.
There is also a gale warning in place from Dungarvan to Loop Head to Malin Head, where north or northwest winds will reach gale force or strong gale force at times.
Top temperatures today will generally range from 1° to 5° but it will stay below freezing over snow fields. Northwesterly winds will increase moderate to fresh and gusty, though stronger for a time in Atlantic areas.
Thousands of homes still remain without power, with the most impacted counties including: Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Kilkenny, Carlow, Laois and Wicklow.
The Road Safety Authority (RSA) is continuing to urge all road users to exercise “extreme caution” as hazardous weather conditions continue to impact road safety nationwide.
It has “strongly advised” people against unnecessary travel particularly in relation to what it described a “trips for snow tourism”.
“Staying off the road network unless absolutely essential and/or using safer modes of travel not only reduces your risk and the strain on emergency services but also helps keep roads clear for essential travel,” the RSA said.
The RSA has also advised pedestrians that If a journey cannot be avoided to be “extremely careful as frost, ice and snow will make walking on footpaths very dangerous”.