It will be dry initially on Monday night however outbreaks of rain will develop in the west and spread eastwards later, according to Met Éireann.

Tuesday will start with patchy rain which will be followed with brighter conditions in the morning and early afternoon. It will be dry in most areas but isolated rain may develop with maximum temperatures of 15°C to 20°C.

It will be mostly dry on Wednesday with some bright spells in eastern areas. There will be cloud elsewhere with some patchy rain or drizzle and maximum temperatures of 17°C to 20°C.

Outbreaks of rain and drizzle will become persistent for a time in Atlantic coastal counties on Thursday. These will spread eastwards across the country but little or no rain could fall in parts of the south and east.

Initial forecasts from Met Éireann suggest it will be cooler and fresher with mixed weather on Friday.

Farming forecast

Rain

Precipitation amounts this week are expected to be below normal. Values will range generally 10% to 50% but could possibly be close to 80% along the southwest.

Temperatures

Average air temperatures will drop this week but will still be 1.5°C to 2.5°C above average for the time of year. Soil temperatures remain 2.5°C to 4.5°C above the seasonal norm.

Sunshine

The coming week is likely to see average sunshine values with a mixture of cloud and sunny intervals, with occasional periods of rain.

Drying conditions

Drying conditions will be moderate to good over the coming week.

Spraying

There will be opportunities for spraying this week, with Wednesday likely to be the best day with little or no precipitation and light winds expected.

Field conditions

Soil moisture deficits are currently running at 10mm to 30mm in most parts of the country. Conditions are expected to remain close to this for much of the week.

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