Colder this week, some wintry/snow showers, widespread frost and ice.

It's just wonderful waking up to a winter wonderland every morning for 10 days. I feel like I am living in Scandinavia.

Hows Galtymore looking? All frost or is there some snow?

....

Low of -8.1c overnight,currently -7.6c

Where?

Treeline here in North Kildare frozen solid. -6 at 7am but thankfully warmed up to -4 now. Sun is out and the slow thaw is starting.

Enjoying the cold spell but won't miss it, lugging buckets of water out to horses, defrosting taps and rugs, and hands, as well as constantly breaking ice on feed troughs and drinkers, the ice really makes it all so much more difficult.

I've lost count of the amount of times my hands have gotten frozen to steel gates with gloves on.

Don't particularly want rain either though!

Loving the clear blue skies..

Freezing fog and white frosted everything here. Was -8 on the car at 7am, still well below zero. Will actually be glad to see the end of the cold, frost but no snow is just misery with no fun. Anyways. north kk/ south Laois/ carlow border

Probably on my own here, but one thing I won't miss from the spell is the constant blue sky and sun. Not the biggest fan of sunshine anyway but in winter, I just find the tone of sunshine to be off-putting, glarey, monotonous and not fit for purpose (offering no real valuable warmth). Sunshine in Ireland looks much better in the warmer months because everything is green and lush and in bloom which compliments the look, but in winter, it just shines a harsh light on everything that is dead. A death light, that is what winter sunshine is. The couple of days with all day fog there a while back was much nicer to behold and offered much more atmospherics and seasonality to the landscape in my miserable opinion.

The snowy Dublin Mountains and frosty suburbs looking lovely with a red sky earlier.

Still frozen here in galway, but up past 4°c now so won't last too long. I see showers on the radar, saddening to think that it could be washed away in minutes.

Near Turloughmore, Galway

The December novelty is enough for me to remember it fondly (regardless of south Dublin getting lucky that one night with sneachta). Then again, what do I not remember? 🤣

Got absolutely soaked here in a shower of sleet about half an hour ago. Naturally, it has all turned to ice on the roads and footpaths. Lethal.

Significant thaw in Galway now, ominous dark clouds too. In the space of an hour and a half almost everything has melted.

Edit: now raining in Galway city. Oh the disappointment.

I see a bird bathing in a puddle. At least the thaw has brought relief to some.