Met Éireann has said it will become very cold from Friday with an Arctic airmass expected to move down over the country, leading to the possibility of snow.
However, forecaster Michelle Dillon has said ahead of that, high pressure will continue, bringing dry conditions for the rest of 2025.
She said some light drizzle is expected on New Year's Eve night and into the following day, but it will be mostly dry on New Year’s Day.
Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Ms Dillon said: "It starts to turn much colder Thursday night and Friday. Some rain; some sleet around for a time on Friday morning."
Ms Dillon said that from Friday afternoon, it is expected to turn "much colder".
"The showers really will be further to the north and for the north-west for parts of Ulster and north Connacht as we go into Friday afternoon," Ms Dillon said.
"Where those showers do fall, they will be of sleet and turning to snow too."
Ms Dillon added that over the weekend, "it looks very cold, with widespread sharp to severe frost by night".
"But there will be a lot of dry, sunny weather around… but very cold," Ms Dillon said.
The Met Éireann forecaster added that next week could possibly see more widespread sleet and snow showers.
Ms Dillon said the cold spell will last until the start of next week at least, and perhaps the middle of the week, which will be followed by a period of some uncertainty.
"Really it is going to start Friday, through the weekend and into the start of next week."
