{"id":277253,"date":"2026-01-10T06:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T06:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/277253\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T06:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T06:44:10","slug":"ireland-weather-met-eireann-gives-verdict-on-2026-beast-from-the-east-as-snow-forecast-over-next-48-hours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/277253\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland weather: Met Eireann gives verdict on 2026 Beast from the East as snow forecast over next 48 hours"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some hobbyists believe there is potential for a somewhat similar event to unfold over the coming weeks<\/p>\n

This weather map from WXCharts.com shows some snowfall across parts of Ireland this weekend. (Image: WXCharts.com)<\/p>\n

Met Eireann has weighed in on the rumoured return of the notorious ‘Beast from the East’ in 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The beginning of the new year brought wintry conditions<\/a> to many parts of Ireland. Schools across the island were forced to close as a result of snowfall, ice and dangerous driving conditions.<\/p>\n

The north of Ireland is set for more wintry showers this weekend with all six counties observing a 18 hour long Status Yellow weather warning for snow and ice<\/a> from 5pm on Friday.<\/p>\n

The persistency of the Arctic blast<\/a> has many weather experts and hobbyists alike ruminating over a possible return of the notorious ‘Beast from the East’ which visited havoc and chaos upon Ireland in 2018.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Enjoying the snow in the Phoenix Park, Dublin during the 2018 ‘The Beast of the East’.(Image: Colin Keegan, Collins)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Children playing in the snow in the Dublin during ‘The Beast from the East’ in 2018. (Image: Colin Keegan, Collins)<\/p>\n

The 2018 ‘Beast from the East’<\/a> unfolded at the end of February when the northern polar jet’s flow direction abruptly changed, drawing cold air towards Ireland from the east.<\/p>\n

Some hobbyists believe there is potential for a somewhat similar event to unfold over the coming weeks but this very much flies in the face of what Met Eireann<\/a> experts are saying.<\/p>\n

While Met Eireann concedes there may be wintry conditions in some parts of the country over the comings days and weeks, no where does it suggest that the sub-zero drama of 2018 could return in early 2026.<\/p>\n

From Monday January 12 to Sunday January 18 Met Eireann’s forecast <\/a>is for “low pressure” and a return to “near normal” temperatures.<\/p>\n

“There is a strong signal for low pressure to drive the weather pattern through week one.<\/p>\n

“Temperatures are expected to recover to near normal for January, although this does not preclude the chance of night-time frosts. Rainfall is signalled to be a little above normal overall and given the time of year, some of this could be wintry at times,” said Met Eireann.<\/p>\n

Met Eireann National Outlook:<\/p>\n

Overview<\/strong>: Low pressure dominates, with spells of wet and sometimes windy conditions. Turning milder from Sunday.<\/p>\n

Saturday night<\/strong>: Rain and drizzle in the west will extend eastwards, becoming widespread. Lowest temperatures of 0 to 2 degrees in the north and east initially, becoming milder with the rain with lowest temperatures generally of 3 to 7 degrees. Light to moderate southerly winds will increase fresh to strong.<\/p>\n

Sunday<\/strong>: Windy with widespread outbreaks of rain continuing, turning heavy in places with a chance of hail. Milder with highest temperatures of 8 to 12 degrees. Southerly winds will be fresh to strong reaching near gale force at times.<\/p>\n

Sunday night<\/strong>: Outbreaks of rain will gradually clear northeastwards with showers and clear spells following. Lowest temperatures of 5 to 8 degrees, with southwesterly winds easing moderate to fresh.<\/p>\n

Monday<\/strong>: A mix of sunshine and showers, merging to longer spells of rain at times. Highest temperatures of 8 to 11 degrees, with moderate to fresh southwesterly winds.<\/p>\n

Tuesday<\/strong>: There is uncertainty in the details, but likely a wet start with widespread outbreaks of rain, clearing to bright spells and showers. Highest temperatures of 7 to 10 degrees with light to moderate southwesterly winds.<\/p>\n

Further outlook<\/strong>: Current indications show a continuation of unsettled conditions.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: <\/strong>Sign up here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some hobbyists believe there is potential for a somewhat similar event to unfold over the coming weeks This…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,5602,5,9344,7,8,443,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-277253","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-featured-news","11":"tag-featurednews","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-latest-news","14":"tag-latestnews","15":"tag-main-news","16":"tag-mainnews","17":"tag-met-eireann","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-snow","20":"tag-top-stories","21":"tag-topstories","22":"tag-weather","23":"tag-world","24":"tag-world-news","25":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115869454453690452","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}