Temperatures to plunge below -3C as Met Éireann issue ice warning for 23 counties

All counties in the Republic of Ireland, except for Dublin, Wexford and Waterford, are under an ice warning from 6pm Thursday until 12pm Friday afternoon.

“Very cold with temperatures expected to fall below -3 degrees in many areas. Frost and ice developing will cause hazardous travelling conditions,” Met Éireann said.

A similar warning has been issued for all counties in Northern Ireland except Fermanagh by the UK Met Office.

This comes as much of northern Europe has been plunged into winter with snowstorms and sub-zero conditions across many countries.

Two people died in Germany while schoolchildren were forced to spend the night in their classroom due to the severe weather.

Temperatures are expected to reach between three to seven degrees on Wednesday before dropping to lows of -2 to plus two degrees overnight.

More fog and mist will roll in tonight, remaining until tomorrow morning which will also see some showers in eastern parts of the country.

Highest temperatures of three to six degrees are expected before lows of -4 to one degrees overnight.

Met Éireann forecasts the days ahead will become “increasingly colder with frost and ice and potentially some wintry precipitation”.

Mist and fog into Friday will also clear throughout the day, with December 1 marking the first day of meteorological winter.

It will be cold and mainly dry with sunny spells and some showers before a cold, wintry night of some frost.

Saturday and Sunday will continue cold with some sunny spells while Met Éireann expects early next week to bring “cold and mainly dry” weather.