Met Eireann has issued a status yellow weather warning this morning, as persistent rain and strengthening southwest winds hits the country.

This morning, it says the rain will fall as sleet or snow in parts of Ulster and this afternoon, the northern half of the country will become dry and very cold with temperatures of just 3 to 6 degrees. It will continue wet and windy further south with temperatures of 9 to 12 degrees.

Tonight

Tonight’s weather will start off cold and dry in Ulster, Connacht and north Leinster with frost developing in many parts Met Eireann says while it will be milder in Munster and south Leinster with rain continuing and temperatures of 8 to 12 degrees. The rain will spread northwards through the night and any frost will clear.

Tomorrow

Tuesday will be mild and mostly cloudy with scattered outbreaks of rain or drizzle, according to Met Eireann while there’ll be some decent dry periods also and a few bright intervals may develop, most likely in the south. Highest temperatures of 11 to 13 degrees with fresh, gusty south to southwest winds.

Outlook

Tuesday night will be mild, blustery and mostly cloudy weather with patchy rain, drizzle and mist, Met Eireann has predicted with lowest temperatures of 9 to 12 degrees with fresh southerly winds.

On Wednesday morning, rain will spread eastwards across the country. It will clear in the afternoon with showers following. It will become colder as the rain clears with temperatures dropping from 12 or 13 degrees to around 6 to 9 degrees.

Further into the week, Met Eireann say the weather will be cold and dry with some rain in places though on Thursday with continuing risk of frost.

The frost should be gone by the weekend, but the outlook for the weather for the rest of the week and weekend remains mixed.