Temperatures could drop to as low as -11 Celsius as the cold snap continues across much of the country, a meteorologist at Met Éireann has said.
A Status Orange Low Temperature/Ice warning for 19 counties came into effect at 6pm with an extremely cold night forecast, with temperatures below -5C leading to severe frost and ice.
The warning is in effect until midday tomorrow for Carlow, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath, Cavan, Monaghan, Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Galway, Leitrim and Roscommon.
Met Éireann has also issued another Status Orange alert from 6pm tomorrow until 12pm on Friday for Leinster, Connacht, Munster and Cavan and Monaghan, with lows of -5C forecast, leading to severe frost and ice.
Status Orange - Low Temperature/Ice warning ⚠️
— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) December 14, 2022
Extremely cold on Thursday night with temperatures below -5°C expected widely, leading to severe frost & ice. 📉 🥶
Valid: 18:00 Thursday 15/12/2022 to 12:00 Friday 16/12/2022
View all warnings here 👇https://t.co/l8JdKfwZt9 pic.twitter.com/HSyNTv2Tn5
A separate Status Yellow Low Temperature/Ice warning remains in place for the entire country until midday on Friday.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, meteorologist Joanna Donnelly forecast a widespread low temperature of -7C nationally, but temperatures could drop to -11C in places.
"There's not a huge amount of precipitation, no sleet or snow apart from a few showers on coasts, but the temperatures are going significantly colder.
"I have the -7C widely in the forecast for overnight tonight, but it's going to be much colder than that in isolated areas, there's -11C showing up on my charts here," Ms Donnelly said.
She said that overnight temperatures went down to -7.5C at the Mount Dillon weather station in Co Longford, but generally temperatures were down to -4C or -5C last night.
"It is not going to get much warmer than that today. Temperatures this morning aren't likely to rise above freezing for much of the country, for much of the morning.
"It'll be afternoon before temperatures creep above the zero mark, and they're going to fall pretty quickly ... down again to -4C, so it's a really, really, bitterly cold day out there today,"
Although it is cold, Ms Donnelly said Ireland has not reached the record -19.1C of January 1880.
Ms Donnelly said more recently there were really cold temperatures during Storm Emma in 2018, which saw temperatures of -9.7C, and the lowest recent temperature was in 2010 when there was a low of -17.5C on Christmas Day in Co Mayo.
She said that it is "never too cold to snow", because once there is precipitation, there will be snow.
Ms Donnelly said there is "always a chance" of a white Christmas but "our climate does not set us up for white Christmases here in Ireland".
She added: "It's generally too warm due to that southwesterly airflow, the prevailing southwesterly airflow.
"And at the moment it looks like there's going to be a bit of a breakdown this weekend, with some southerly winds bringing some wind and rain, but it's looking to get colder again after that.
"Not quite as cold as where they are at the moment, but sure we won't rule it out just yet."
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Concern over cases of hypothermia in older people
A consultant geriatrician at the Mater Hospital in Dublin has said gritted footpaths could save the State money in treating hip fractures.
Speaking on the same programme, Dr Colm Byrne said the public health benefits of reducing the risk of a fall were great.
"It's very important that our county councils help us in the hospitals and grit the footpaths," he said.
"Each hip fracture has a direct cost to the State of €11,700. So if we can prevent those, we can have a cost benefit to the State and that's not including people ending up in nursing homes and so on.
"One in four people will, if you break a hip, unfortunately pass away within the next year. So it can be a very serious injury for people.
"Breaking anything can obviously have life-long impacts and can limit your mobility and limit your future independence."
Dr Byrne said he had also seen cases of hypothermia among older people this winter.
He said: "There have been a couple of cases that have come in of older people who have developed hypothermia in their own homes, unfortunately due to their homes not being heated properly.
"There’s been some very sad cases of that."
Meanwhile, a small number of flights have been cancelled due to weather conditions abroad.
In a statement, the daa said eight flights have been cancelled - four departures and the corresponding four return flights.
It said six of those flights were due to fly into and out of airports in Paris, which is covered under a blanket of snow and France's air safety regulator DGAC said that air traffic at the city's main airports is likely to be heavily disrupted as a result of the snowfall.
The daa said that with further very cold and wintry weather predicted in the UK and across Europe over the coming days, "passengers are advised to check the latest flight information on the airline's website or app."
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People 'bypassing' warning signage
Amid the cold weather some people are bypassing signs warning that certain roads are impassible, according to Dublin-Wicklow Mountain Rescue.
Deputy Team Leader Ronan Friel said they have had to carry out a number of rescues in recent days.
"We’ll go up, we will pick people up from their cars and then they can get a tow truck to sort the car at a later stage. Unfortunately, we’ve been out to multiple calls now since the snow has come in, and it has been people who were driving outside their scope of skillset."
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne, Mr Friel said there is "zero grip" in places.
"Even with 4x4 and winter tyres a lot of the patches and areas there is zero grip because it is just sheer ice because we haven’t had a thaw. So in the problematic areas, it is just sheet ice. So even in a 4x4 and thinking that you’re in control, you have zero grip.
"Without the likes of snow chains you’re just putting yourselves at risk, which is drawing out the likes of ourselves or towing companies."
He said that they have warning signs up, and people should park and walk if they want to enjoy the snow.
"We’ve an agreement with Wicklow County Council and gardaí that when the snow comes in we’ll do multiple drives ourselves across the hills and we put out ‘road impassable’ signs on all areas, and we even have small standing signs on the roads saying ‘road closed’, so people are just bypassing them".
He said people should also dress for the weather when they are out.
"We’ve even taken people off the hill in Crocs, so not being dressed for the weather is one of the issues."
"You go out in the car, lovely and warm, and unfortunately when it's in a ditch you’ve to get out of it."
