Ireland is expected to feel colder than the Arctic later this week as temperatures are to drop by as much as 10c in the coming days.
The stark reality comes after the National Forecaster Met Eireann upgraded its weather alert to Orange ahaed of storm Emma.
It is expected Storm Emma or ‘The Beast from the East’ as it is commonly known will bring widespread snowfall and bitterly cold freezing conditions from Tuesday onwards.
Met Eireann say the orange status warning applies to counties Dublin, Carlow, Kildare, Laois, Louth, Wicklow and Meath.
It is expected the above counties could see snowfall of up 6cm by Wednesday afternoon. Meanwhile the rest of south Leinster and the country is expected to see snowfall throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, although the accumulation is expected to be smaller than the North of the Provence.
The national forecaster also say temperatures are expected to fall significantly over the coming days ahead with lows of -10c expected in some places overnight.
Meanwhile daytime temperatures are expected to be below zero with lows of -3c expected on Wednesday