Ireland is forecast for a mixed bag of weather with rain and dry spells but there will be no chance of snow as Christmas week gets underway.
Christmas Day itself is set to be largely dry with a mix of cloud and sunny spells and just a few light showers, with highest temperatures of 4 to 8 degrees in mostly light to moderate easterly winds.
Sunday night will see scattered outbreaks of rain and drizzle are set to continue after it moves up from the south.
Met Éireann said it will be mostly cloudy with lowest temperatures of 4 to 9 degrees for Ulster and Leinster, 2 to 6 degrees for Munster and Connacht with the best of the clear spells.
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Northeasterly winds will be moderate along northern and eastern coasts, but will be mostly light and those light winds will allow mist and fog patches to develop.
It will be mostly cloudy on Monday with some outbreaks of rain and drizzle and with mist and fog lingering in places, mainly in the west and in the midlands.
But there will be some good drier intervals too, though any bright breaks will be limited. Temperatures will hit highs of 6 to 11 degrees in mostly light easterly or variable breezes.
Cloud with outbreaks of rain and drizzle will gradually clear northeast on Monday night with clear spells and some showers following from the southeast.
Lowest temperatures of 1 to 6 degrees generally but falling colder in some midland areas with some fog forecast.
Tuesday will see a foggy start for many in the morning which will persist in some places through the day. Limited sunny spells will occur but it will be largely dry with just some light rain or drizzle at times, mainly near coasts with temperatures of between 6 to 10 degrees.
[ Temperatures set to drop to -2 over weekend but white Christmas unlikelyOpens in new window ]
On Tuesday night, there will be some clear spells but overall it will be mostly cloudy. It will remain dry apart from possible spots of light rain or drizzle near eastern coasts. Lowest temperatures will reach 3 to 7 degrees.
Christmas Eve will also be largely dry with just a few light showers or spots of drizzle. The best of any sunny spells will be in the afternoon with temperatures hitting 6 to 9 degrees generally.
Met Éireann is forecasting that high pressure will continue to dominate throughout the rest of the week with predominantly dry conditions and highest temperatures generally ranging between 4 and 8 degrees.
In the UK, the Met Office’s current forecast is for east-southeasterly winds but there is a very small chance that they may get east-northeasterlies instead.
This small change in wind direction could then pull in much colder air from Scandinavia resulting in showers over eastern areas that could turn to sleet or snow in places.
Even though a white Christmas is still unlikely for our neighbours too, it cannot be completely ruled out.
