There will be a lot of dry weather on Monday with some scattered showers around the southeast coast for a time that will clear later. Top temperatures will be 11 to 13 degrees and with moderate north east winds. Monday night will be cold in many places, with clear spells and light winds. Frost will develop as well as some patches of mist and fog.

Tuesday will be mainly dry and mild with sunny spells as early mist and fog clears. Light variable breezes will become southwesterly by the end of the day with top temperatures of 11°C to 14°C.

Patchy drizzle or light rain in parts of the west and north will continue from Tuesday night into Wednesday, but it will be drier and brighter elsewhere. Afternoon temperatures will reach between 12°C and 15°C with light southwest breezes and it will be largely dry on Wednesday night.

There will be showers or longer spells of rain on Thursday mostly affecting the north and the northwest again, most southern parts of the country will be dry. Winds will be moderate to fresh from the southwest and temperatures will be between 13°C and 16°C.

Friday will see a risk of showers but again a mainly dry day overall with little change in wind or temperatures.

Farming forecast

Rain

Rainfall has been below average for the month of October to date and rainfall totals for the past week have only been 50 to 70 % of average. With anticyclonic conditions continuing to persist over Ireland for the foreseeable future rainfall going forward will be less than 20% for the bulk of the country.

Temperatures

The first half of the month was warm with higher than average temperatures but it has become cooler in the past week or so meaning that temperature figures for the past week are about 0.5°C below average.

There will be no change for the next few days but later in the week milder weather will return to Ireland. The net result is that the average temperature figure for the whole of next week is positive by about 0.5°C.

Sunshine

We are getting into the time of year when sunshine ceases to be an important weather parameter, although bright sunny days are always welcome as we head towards the days of long nights.

Drying, ground and spraying conditions

Drying conditions will be good with plenty of opportunities for spraying. A general improvement in ground conditions is expected.

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Irish Farmers Journal breakfast news Monday 24 October