Status orange ice and low temperature alert to come into effect this evening

Temperatures are set to plummet to as low as minus 10 degrees tonight.

Its predicted to be the coldest night of the current wintry spell and of the year.

While a status yellow alert remains in place for the entire country until Friday, a new orange alert for low temperatures and ice will come into effect for 19 counties this evening.

Alan O' Reilly of Carlow Weather says as Christmas approaches its too early to predict if it will be a white one.

"It is tricky to forecast that far out but it is likely that we will see a few more cold days before we get to Christmas Eve but that's just a little bit beyond the reliable timeframe I'm afraid".