WEATHER: Dreaming of a white Christmas in Ireland? Here's what the experts are saying...

As other parts of Europe are already enjoying wintry weather, we’ve looked at what the experts in the Met Office and Met Éireann are saying and frankly, it’s not looking that likely for us, although a week out from Christmas Day, nothing has been ruled out.

Temperatures look set to drop quite a bit for a few days later this week, around Christmas Eve, but it may not be cold enough with snow with latest forecasts for Derry predicting temperatures between 2 and 7 degrees Celsius for Christmas Eve. But, as always, with the changeable weather in this part of the world, those temperatures are far from set in stone so far out.

In its national forecast and commenting on the chances of snow on Christmas Day, the Met Office states: “As we head towards the end of next week and the festive period there is, as always, more uncertainty in the forecast.

"However, there are indications that by the end of next week we could see high pressure moving further south and west away from the UK, allowing northwesterly winds to develop at times. This would allow some short periods where colder air affects the UK, with the potential for wintry showers in northern areas. At this stage there is very little sign of any widespread or severe cold and wintry weather.”

As always, these longer range forecasts are “subject to change” the Met Office cautions.

Met Éireann concurs that this week will see very changeable weather over Ireland, with quite a lot of wind and rain in store for the days leading up to Christmas.

Thursday looks like it could be very windy indeed, while the Irish national forecaster has predicted for the pre-Christmas weekend: “Relatively mild, wet and breezy conditions seem favoured overall, with the potential for heavy rain in the west and north. Briefly colder conditions are possible around Christmas eve.”

So while we can’t rule snow in this Christmas, we can’t rule anything out either at this stage. So we’ll just have to see how things pan out and we’ll keep you posted….