There’ll be a cold start to Christmas Eve with some snow in parts, Christmas Day and Saint Stephen’s Day will bring rain, according to Met Eireann.

Today, will be cold and breezy with temperatures at 3 to 6 degrees Celsius at best and it will feel colder in the brisk southwest breeze, it said.

Met Eireann said that there will be some bright or short sunny spells, but fairly frequent showers too, some wintry over Ulster and north Connacht and on mountains elsewhere.

Tonight will be cold with clear spells and scattered showers, these mainly in the west and northwest of the country, it said.

There will be lowest temperatures tonight of 1 to 3 degrees, it said, with frost developing in places, in light to moderate southwest breezes.

Towards dawn, some rain may show up along the south coast, according to Met Eireann.

Met Eireann has said that Christmas Day will start off cold, bright and sunny in places.

However, wet and windy weather will affect Munster and south Leinster through the morning and will spread to all areas through the afternoon and evening, it said.

It may be preceded by some wet snow for a short time, on northern hills and top temperatures over Ulster and north Connacht will be just 3 to 6 degrees, but values will rise after dark.

Elsewhere, daytime values will be 7 to 11 degrees and fresh to strong southeast winds will veer southwesterly later in day.

The night will become very mild in all areas, with temperatures rising to 12 or 13 degrees and there will be further rain too, heavy at times, but some dry spells also, it said.

Saint Stephen’s Day will start out mild and breezy, according to Met Eireann with a few bright or sunny spells, but rather cloudy in the main.

There’ll be some further rain too, mostly along parts of the south and southeast coasts, it said.

Temperatures will be in double figures at breakfast time, but falling to 8 or 9 degrees by mid-afternoon, Met Eireann said and it will be cold for a time overnight, but rain is set to spread up from the south late in the night.

Sunday will be mild and breezy again with a few bright or sunny spells, but cloudy periods too, with some further rain in places, it said.

The early days of next week will continue changeable and unsettled, with further spells of wet weather at times and often windy too, according to Met Eireann.