The sunshine almost had us fooled.

But it looks like spring conditions will remain outside of our grasp for another few weeks at least, with experts warning that Ireland is in for a significant spell of freezing wintry weather.

“From the weekend onwards Ireland will enter into a period of unusually cold weather, with winter hazards such as very low temperatures, severe frost, ice and heavy snow becoming common across many areas of the country,” reports Cathal Nolan of the Irish Weather Channel.

“Heavy snow is likely along east facing coastal counties of Leinster and parts of the Midlands, with North Wicklow, Dublin, Meath, Lough, Westmeath, Offaly, Laois and Longford being most at risk of seeing heavy snow during the first half of the week,” he said.

It seems Cork won’t escape either: “During the second half of the week more generally outbreaks of snow seem possible on a widespread basis with further warnings set to be issued closer to the time,” said Mr Nolan.

‘Snowfall events could rival Storm Emma’

Up to 10cm of snow is expected in some parts of the country, causing treacherous driving conditions on rural roads as a bitterly cold Siberian weather front descends on Ireland.

Mr Nolan warned that it seems likely that we are about to enter into “what could possibly be the most severe spell of wintry weather, in terms of duration, since December 2010, with the possibility of snowfall events that could rival that of Storm Emma from March 2018.”

According to Met Éireann, the first hint of what’s to come will be felt on Friday night, when we can expect hail and isolated thunderstorms across Munster, with frost and possible icy stretches too. It will be cold with lowest temperatures of -2 to +2 degrees Celsius.