Friday

Friday will be a cold and windy day, with sunshine and blustery showers, according to Met Éireann.

These showers will be mainly in western areas at first, but will become widespread in the afternoon.

Some will be heavy, with hail and sleet and some isolated thunderstorms.

By evening, some of the showers will fall as snow, especially over higher ground in parts of the west and northwest.

Feeling noticeably colder, with highest afternoon temperatures of just 5°C to 8°C.

Widespread showers will continue for a time early on Friday night, but will gradually become confined to Atlantic coastal counties overnight.

Lowest temperatures of 0°C to 3°C, with a risk of frost in sheltered spots.

Saturday

Saturday will start out mostly dry, with sunny spells in the east and north.

Outbreaks of rain and drizzle will develop in western coastal counties during the morning.

These will spread elsewhere through the afternoon and evening.

The rain will turn persistent and heavy in parts of the west towards evening, accompanied by increasingly strong and gusty south to southwest winds. Highest temperatures of 8°C to 10°C.

It is forecast to turn wet and very windy for a time on Saturday night, with gales near coasts.

Rain will give way to showers from the west overnight.

Lowest temperatures overnight will range from 4°C to 7°C, coldest over Ulster and north Connacht.

Sunday

Sunday will be a breezy day with some bright or sunny spells early on, but becoming mostly cloudy with scattered outbreaks of rain and drizzle. Highest temperatures will range from 10°C to 12°C.

Cloudy with outbreaks of rain on Sunday night, heaviest in the west and northwest. Lowest overnight temperatures are expected to be between 7°C and 10°C.

Monday

It will be mostly cloudy and mild, with outbreaks of rain and drizzle on Monday.

The heaviest and most persistent rain will be in the north and northwest. Highest temperatures will range from 12°C to 16°C.

Management notes

Beef

In this week’s beef management notes, Adam Woods takes a look at getting castration right, getting out to graze in good weather and managing cashflow on drystock farms.

Dairy

Aidan Brennan says all cows should be body condition scored now and action taken on the low-scoring cows.

Tillage

As we get closer to the start of April, winter crops will soon need their main nitrogen split, growth regulator and possibly a tidy-up herbicide, writes Andy Doyle.

Sheep

Darren Carty looks at some topical health issues around vaccination protocols and also touches on the problem of hoggets destined for slaughter turning up in lamb.