Ireland could face another cold snap amid reports that a “snow bomb” similar to the beast of the east could wipe out the country.
Long-range weather maps, which are subject to change up to this point, suggest that snow could likely fall across Ireland over the next few days.
WXCharts, a weather data viewer, shows a 20 to 30 percent chance that the white stuff will fall next Tuesday, February 7.
Also shows the chance of snow on certain days between Tuesday February 7 and Friday February 17.
Meteorologist Jim Dale told the Express that February’s outlook would depend on the development of specific systems.
“Only stratospheric warming over the North Pole will keep us and other northern hemisphere countries in the wintry frame through February. The ‘fat lady’ is not yet singing,” he said, reports The Mirror.
The UK Met Office has confirmed that an SSW has already begun.
In a blog post, the forecaster wrote: “A sudden stratospheric warming is underway, but only a minor one. The warming is expected to peak towards the end of January. The strong westerly winds high over the Arctic, called the stratospheric polar vortex, have weakened and the vortex is partially collapsing. However, the polar vortex has been unusually strong so far this year and although there has been a minor SSW, the winds are expected to rebound quickly, recovering to speeds around normal for the time of year. It can take a week or more for any impacts from an SSW to work its way down through the atmosphere and to have any influence on the weather in the UK. However, not all SSWs lead to cold weather and widespread snow for the UK,” reports The Mirror.
The forecast for the week of by Met Eireann for February 10-16 reads: ““Some uncertainty in the weather outlook for Week 2 but current indications suggest high pressure will decline towards Europe, introducing more unsettled conditions as low pressure starts to influence from the north west. Mean air temperatures will still be above normal for this time of year,” reports The Mirror.
Independent Irish meteorologist Alan O’Reilly is also monitoring the possibility of an impending cold snap.
According to the Mirror, he said: “The GFS weather model has flipped the medium term outlook in last few runs and shows a risk of a cooler airmass possibly moving in around the 7th. Very uncertain yet so don’t start talking about beasts or snow. Let’s keep an eye and see what other models show over coming days.”
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