Storm Deirdre To Bring “Heavy Snow and Icy Conditions” Across UK and Ireland

It's the busiest shopping day of the year... but the weather has other plans.

Storm Deirdre is set to bring "heavy snow, freezing rain and icy conditions" to the UK and Ireland as a cold front moves in, according to The Independent.

Met Eireann has issued an orange alert for the whole country until midnight tonight.

#StormDeirdre will bring severe weather this afternoon:

Heavy rain
Strong winds
Freezing rain
Snow

Stay #weatheraware pic.twitter.com/CPDsAi7tQx

— Met Office (@metoffice) December 15, 2018

More than 4,000 homes are currently without power in Glengariff area of Cork with ESB technicians currently working to repair the fault.

The rain has become increasingly heavy throughout the day, with spot flooding reported in the Southern region.

Stormy conditions with "disruptive and damaging" gusts will move north and eastwards during the evening and early night.

Met Eireann warns: "A developing depression (Storm Deirdre) will track northeast over Ireland during Saturday afternoon and evening and will bring wet and windy weather to all areas.

"West or northwest winds will reach mean speeds of 65km/h with gusts of 100km/h generally, with disruptive and damaging gusts to 130km/h likely for a few hours in western and southern counties in the late afternoon and transferring eastwards during the evening."

EUMETSAT visible satellite images showing #StormDeirdre approaching the south of Ireland.
Satellite images available at https://t.co/4lxrzDM8dEhttps://t.co/ozrQHtoOkt pic.twitter.com/Oyza2BrA6d

— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) December 15, 2018

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