Forecaster "90% confident" of snow next week

It may come as a shock to the system after such a mild start to the winter, but from Monday, Ireland will plunge into a particularly long and protracted period of cold weather.

According to Midland Weather Channel's Cathal Nolan, Westmeath and the rest of the Midlands can expect some heavy snow showers commencing on Tuesday night and throughout Wednesday.

"Due to the sudden stratospheric warming which takes a couple of weeks to take effect, it looks like we could be in for a long spell of very cold weather. We're talking -3 to -4 nighttime temperatures, ranging to just 3 or 4 degrees during the daytime," says Cathal.

"We saw the same happening last year only it came quite late in the season. This time around, it's about a month earlier than last year, meaning this could last 10 days to two weeks, and beyond. It's too soon to tell yet.

"I am 90% confident we'll see snow next week. Heavy showers starting on Tuesday will turn wintry, Tuesday night and throughout Wednesday, parts of Westmeath will have a covering of snow. Then the wind will change back to a north to a northeasterly direction and it will actually get colder in temperature.

"All indications show patterns tending to persist for at least a couple of weeks."