We could be in line for a snowy January

After one of the mildest Christmases in decades, Met Eireann says that we could be in line for a bitterly cold January.

The relatively high temperatures and settled conditions of the last week were due to what is known as a sudden stratospheric warming, which is often followed by bitterly cold weather.

A Met Eireann spokesperson says that while we can expect a drop in temperatures, it is too early to forecast whether we will experience the Arctic like conditions that the Beast from the East brought us early last year.

"Around the atmosphere, you can get deep differences in temperature between cold air coming down from the north and then warm air rising from the south," she said."You could have very cold air over the US, but warmer air over the Atlantic and then colder air again over Europe or possibly, over Asia," the spokesperson said.