Nationwide weather warning issued as ‘Son of the Beast’ approaches

Don't be fooled by the bright evening - things are set to take a turn.

Met Éireann has issued a Yellow Weather Warning for the entire country this evening. It's been a mild week but, in what some are calling the 'Son of the Beast', things are set to cool off considerably this evening and overnight. Rather than blanket snow, cold winds from Scandinavia and Eastern Europe will bring lighter snow flurries across the east of the country. "Advance warning for cold weather this weekend with low-temperatures, snow-showers, snow-accumulation mainly Saturday night and Sunday," said Met Éireann today.

For those out and about on Saturday, below are the projected afternoon air temperatures (red) and wind chill temperatures (blue) for St Patrick's Day. pic.twitter.com/9e7SpOMcHk

— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) March 16, 2018

For today, the rain over Ulster will gradually clear late in the afternoon and evening. It'll be a wet evening in many parts though as the showers will continue to affect Munster and will move into the midlands and south Connacht Elsewhere the rest of the day will be generally dry and bright. We can expect highs of 7 to 11 degrees in light southeast breezes. Most places will remain dry early tonight but showers will develop across Leinster and east Ulster later in the night. On the Wicklow Mountains the showers will turn to sleet or snow by dawn. Temperatures are set to dip to lows of of 0 to 4 degrees and there'll also be some moderate to fresh easterly winds overnight.