Last week, if someone had said that snow would be falling in Tralee for Christmas, no-one would have believed it. The weather then was so mild, it could have been the middle of April!
However, the Irish weather (being as unpredictable as it is) decided to bring a seasonal atmosphere to the area. And so it was that at 8:45pm on Wednesday 27th December the soft rain turned into snow, much to the delight of children everywhere. With the snow came the cold and temperatures overnight fell to almost 4 degrees below freezing, which certainly didn't make life easy for those who had to return to work on Thursday morning. Some minor road accidents occurred due to the freezing conditions, but thankfully, no serious incidents were reported.
A spokesperson for Kerry County Council has confirmed to TraleeTown.com that the roads around the town are being gritted and this will continue for as long as the current cold-snap prevails. Gardaí are requesting motorists to be extremely careful on the roads, some of which are extremely treacherous (the Tralee-Castlemaine, Tralee-Listowel and Tralee-Dingle roads were all in a very dangerous condition on Thursday).
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Around the town, as well, some roads and footpaths were reported to be in a dangerous state due to the unexpected freezing conditions. Pedestrians and especially cyclists were warned to take extra care at this time. It is expected that the snow on the ground at present will freeze again and produce even more hazardous conditions tomorrow. So the general message is to take care over the next few days! |
Despite the snowy conditions, thousands of cash-rich shoppers converged on the town-centre on Wednesday afternoon. One would have thought that the huge pre-Christmas spending-spree which the town enjoyed in the run up to the festive period would have left little for spending afterwards. This was definitely NOT the case and, although there was no-one running away with a 3-piece suite reduced from £3,000 to £30 or a spanking new 800MHZ PC for only £68, nevertheless there were some great bargains to be had in all of the shops prominently displaying the "Sale" signs on their windows. Fred Moynihan of Kiely's Electrical, Tony Tyrrell of Shaws Department Store and Chris Shortt of Associates Boutique all spoke of the healthy state of the town's businesses in this Celtic Tiger economy.
Meanwhile, the weather forecasters say that a severe weather alert has been issued all over the country until the weekend with more snowfalls to come. Top daytime temperatures of zero to two degrees at most are predicted, with night-time temperatures expected to plummet to as low as minus five degrees! However rising temperatures and wet and windy weather on Sunday will keep a White New Year's Day at bay....
