Monday

Cool and blustery with sunny spells and occasional showers. The showers will be heavy in many areas and frequent across the midlands, north and west with a small risk of thunder. Showers will be more scattered this evening. Highest temperatures 14°C to 16°C. Strong gusty northwest winds, will slowly ease. Further scattered showers Monday night mainly in coastal parts of Connacht, Ulster and west Munster. Becoming mainly dry elsewhere, with clear spells. Minimum temperatures 7°C to 10°C. Fresh gusty northwest winds will ease and back westerly.

Tuesday

Tuesday will begin dry in most places but cloud will increase. Rain and strong winds arriving in the west during the late morning will quickly spread countrywide during the afternoon. The rain will be heavy for a time too with the chance of spot flooding. Southwest winds will be very strong with gale gusts over Munster and much of Leinster, but more variable further north. Feeling cool and blustery everywhere. Highest temperatures of 14°C to 17°C. A clearance will follow from the west during the evening and winds will moderate. Clear spells will develop in most places Tuesday night, but scattered showers will occur, some heavy and possibly prolonged in Atlantic coastal counties, with a risk of thunder, especially in the northwest. Minimum 7°C to 9°C, in mostly moderate westerly winds.

Wednesday

Cool, with a mix of sunny spells and showers, many of the showers will be heavy, some possibly of hail and there is a risk of scattered thunderstorms, especially in the north and west. Maximum temperatures just 12°C to 15°C, in moderate west to southwest breezes, gradually veering west to northwest. Clear spells overnight, with further scattered showers, mainly in Atlantic coastal counties.

Thursday

Another cool and breezy day, with sunny spells and scattered showers, some of them heavy. However, they will be less frequent than in previous days and Thursday night will be dry in most parts. Maximum temperatures 13°C to 16°C, in moderate to fresh northwesterly winds.

Friday

All areas will have sunny spells, but some scattered showers will occur also. Winds will be mostly moderate, northwest to north in direction, so still cool, with max. temperatures of 13°C to 16°C.

Rain

The past week gave close to normal rainfall across the northern half of the country, but it was much wetter further south – the far south had twice the norm for the time of year. The predicted rainfall distribution for the week ahead indicates around or below average rainfall for the east and south and well above average for the west and north with particularly heavy showers in north-western counties today, tonight and early Monday.

Temperatures

Air temperatures last week were in or around the norm for the time of the year. Mean air temperatures are expected to be below average in the week ahead by about 1°C to 2°C, with Wednesday and Thursday expected to be the coldest days. Temperatures may recover next weekend. Soil temperatures are running at 14°C to 16°C that is between 1 and 2°C above average.

Sunshine

Last week was dull with most places only receiving between 60 and 80% of average sunshine with some coastal fringes of the west and north even getting even less. Much of the week ahead looks to be unsettled and sunshine figures are expected to be below normal in many areas possible around average in parts of the southeast. Some improvement indicated towards the end of the week.

Drying Conditions

Overall drying will be poor for the time of year, but there will be some periods of reasonably good drying, as winds will be strong a good deal of the time over the next few days.