PARTS OF THE country are expected to be hit with sleet and snow tonight with Met Éireann issuing a a weather warning from this evening.

The meteorological service says that there will be falls of snow and sleet in Munster, Connacht and east Ulster tonight with accumulations of between five and 10 centimetres.

Patchy outbreaks of sleet and snow will become widespread overnight with the weather warning in effect from 6pm this evening until 6am tomorrow morning.

There will be frost, fog and icy patches and temperatures will drop as low as -3 degree Celsius.

Elsewhere, a number of Aer Lingus flights to London and Paris have been cancelled this morning as the snowy weather brings travel disruption to the UK and parts of Europe.

The Irish airline has cancelled 12 flights this morning from Dublin, Cork and Belfast that were due to fly to Heathrow with some return flights also cancelled. Two Paris-Dublin flights have also fallen victim to the weather.

Further expected snow showers have caused the schedule disruptions and Aer Lingus is urging all passengers scheduled to travel today to check the status of their flight before leaving for the airport.

Ryanair has cancelled a number of flights due to arrive and depart from Belgium, France and the UK but as yet no flights in or out of Irish airports have been impacted.

Dublin Airport is advising all passengers travelling to check with their airline for the latest information with London Heathrow particularly affected as it reduces its overall capacity by around 20 per cent due to the weather.

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