Met Éireann has warned Irish people to prepare for a drastic turn in weather, with temperatures set to drop dramatically this week. 

The country is facing a sub-zero blast of ice in the next 48 hours, with the national forecaster stressing that winter is finally here. 

As of Thursday this week, Ireland will see a colder northerly airflow sweep across the country with conditions likely to drop to below sub-zero temperatures. 

Met Éireann’s national forecast for the week says Tuesday is to remain cloudy and damp with outbreaks of rain and drizzle. 

Wednesday will bring similar conditions with rain and drizzle persisting over the southern counties while the northern part of the country enjoys occasional sunny spells. Temperatures are set to remain between 7 and 11C.

However, as night rolls in on Wednesday, temperatures will begin to noticeably drop. Met Éireann is forecasting conditions to fall between 1C and 4C across Ireland. 

This will continue into Thursday, when temperatures will remain between 7C and 9C for much of the day. 

This will be matched with a light to northeast breeze, adding to the chilly feeling in the air. There will also be a mixture of clouds and sunny spells. 

Moving into Thursday night, Met Éireann has warned it will be ‘cold and frosty’. There will be lowest temperatures of -2C.

While the forecast does not predict temperatures to reach subzero across the country on Thursday, Met Éireann has warned that frost is likely to form in sheltered areas and people should be prepared for temperatures to fall again overnight. 

Meanwhile, the extended forecast suggests that Ireland’s weather will become increasingly unsettled into the rest of November. 

The forecaster has warned that a high-pressure system will move closer as of Thursday, dropping temperatures for up to a week. 

However, a low-pressure system in the Atlantic is set to raise temperatures back up again but could bring heavy bouts of rainfall.