THE WARM AND sunny spring weather that has taken hold in recent days is set to end tonight, with Met Éireann warning that a “very cold” Arctic front is about to hit Ireland.

The front will draw a band of cold air across the country and the forecaster has said there will be a chance of wintry showers of hail, sleet and snow in the coming days.

The mercury across Ireland will drop from tonight as a result of the front, with unseasonably low of -3 degrees expected in the coming nights.

“A cold front will introduce cloud and rain across the northern half of the country through the afternoon,” Met Éireann meteorologist Matthew Martin said.

“It’s this cold front that opens the gates to very cold air from the Arctic from Easter Sunday night and through much of next week.”

Scattered outbreaks of light rain are expected to move southwards across the country tonight, with sleet and snow moving into Ulster later in the night.

The forecaster has predicted that lowest temperatures will be between -1 to +3 degrees, with the coldest temperatures occurring in the northern part of the country.

The cold air mass will see daytime temperatures fall tomorrow and Tuesday, when the chances of hail, sleet and snow will increase. Highest temperatures are expected to be between 4 and 8 degrees over both days.

Overnight temperatures are also expected to fall to below freezing during both nights, dipping to -3 in parts of the country.

However, there will be some respite midweek when cloud cover brings warmer weather on Wednesday.

It’s expected that there will be outbreaks of rain, most persistently across the west and northwest, with highest daytime temperatures of between 8 to 10 degrees Celsius.