December 2020, Snow falls in some parts of Ireland

 As of December 3rd there has been reports of snowfall in some locations. Mostly at high levels but also a dusting at lower levels too in Donegal and Galway. So will the snow continue. Well the cold certainly will however it has all to do with the 528 dam line what the freezing level is for snow to fall and that appears to be hovering around the 300m mark over most of Ireland but further North could be down as low as 100m at times. Certainly no repeat of 2010 but the temperatures would appear to be stuck in single figures until mid December. After this we will be getting a lot of the weather like we have got the past few years. Relatively mild and dry with just some mist or drizzle and temperatures of 8 to 11c.

So basically first half of December in Ireland will be cold but not bitter and second half will be mild but not extremely.

Long Range Weather for Ireland December 2020 and Christmas

 So the start of December is still looking quite cold. Temperatures of 4 or 5c to be expected. If there is to be any snow in Ireland this side of Christmas this would appear to be the brief window of opportunity. Around December 4th looks particularly cold and could be in the low single figures.

Overall though the weather for December and Christmas looks quite and benign with no storms showing up at present. If you look out the window today, November 26th, that is probably what the weather will be like a lot of December with not too much in the way of heavy rain.

Temperatures around 10c for Christmas day and fair day weatherwise. All the Christmas period looks quiet with maybe colder weather as we break into the new year.

Unsettled Times Ahead

Rather Mild weather has been dominating November so far with the temperature reaching the dizzy heights of 17.3c in Valentia Observatory and also getting above 16c in Belmullet on Sunday 13th November 2011. Just what is causing this unseasonably mild weather. Hell it is looking as if it is going to be the mildest November on record in a good number of locations around Ireland and this is even if we do get the expected cooler weather toward the end of the month.


1994 was indeed a very mild November in Ireland also with the mean temperature in the North of Ireland of near 9c while it got over 10c in parts of the South. But while a lot of that year saw mild wet and windy weather November 2011 has been quite different with a predominately Southeasterly flow steering up warm winds from the continent.


Now the weather is going to stay mild for the next 10 days but there will be some subtle changes. The first one is that it will be a lot wetter. Some stations like Claremorris and Finner Camp have only seen 10 to 20% of their normal rainfall for the month of November so far. This figure will bulk up so that by the end of the month it will be near normal again. As well as being wetter the weather is going to slowly get a little cooler from the North with temperatures dipping into high single figures by day around the end of the month.


How this is going to impact the Christmas weather is hard to say but what is certain is that by the time December comes we will be due a spell of cold weather so I wouldnt rule out some spells of frost at least if the Atlantic loosens its grip.

Bitterly Cold Weather on Way

Ireland is in for a bitterly cold spell of Arctic weather in the next 4 to 5 days. It all starts off on the night of December 16th and it looks like it is going to wreak havoc with people's travel plans over the Christmas period.

Thursday night sees heavy wintry showers of hail sleet and snow with some drifting in Donegal but this will become more widespread over Ulster and some parts of North Connaught too later on in the night.

On Friday the snow showers continue throughout the country perhaps turning to sleet as the real cold from the Low has yet to set in. Showers will be widespread on Friday evening though and this could bring a lot of snow to many parts of Ireland that will still be on the ground come Christmas due to freezing temperatures.

Saturday and Sunday will have further outbreaks of sleet and snow and though some Met Services are saying it wont be as bad as the cold spell we had at the beginning of the month it will probably bring more snow to some regions, just not the record Low temperatures... or will it?