Monday

Rain will be slow to clear northwards from Ulster on Monday, Met Éireann said, with cloudier conditions there for much of the day.

Elsewhere there will be sunny spells and showers, the showers becoming more frequent in the afternoon. Highest temperatures will range between 16°C and 19°C with mostly light southwest winds, becoming variable in direction.

Monday evening is forecast to turn cloudy on the south coast with a southeast wind picking up there.

A spell of persistent rain will develop there later, spreading up through the southern counties of Leinster.

Met Éireann said it will be mainly dry with clear spells elsewhere for much of the night, with showers or a longer spell of rain arriving on the west coast before dawn.

Lowest temperatures will range between 9°C and 11°C with light variable winds becoming northerly later.

Tuesday

Tuesday morning will be mainly dry for much of the country, with rain or showers along the west coast moving eastwards later.

Highest temperatures will vary between 15°C and 19°C with light to moderate northwest winds backing westerly.

Further showers are forecast on Tuesday night with temperatures down to 11°C or 12°C.

Wednesday

There will be showers on Wednesday too with light to moderate westerly winds and temperatures of 14°C to 18°C. The showers will ease up through Wednesday evening.

Thursday

It looks like there will be a chance of drier weather developing for Thursday although there will still be some showers around in the morning, Met Éireann, said but they should be mostly light and ease up in the second half of the day.

Friday

Currently Friday looks like a largely dry day, but it is likely to be rather unsettled for the weekend.

Farming forecast

Soil moisture deficits are high for all soil types in most parts of the country, Met Éireann has said, generally ranging between 40mm and 60mm, but slightly less in the northwest with deficits of 20mm to 30mm.

“The unsettled weather over the coming week will add some moisture to the soils, reducing deficits to between 20mm and 40mm widely. Some poorly drained soils in the northwest will fall to about 10mm. Due to the showery nature of the precipitation, values will vary locally,” it said.

Rainfall amounts may vary widely over the coming seven days, Met Éireann has said, mostly due to the showery nature of rainfall this weekend, with some spot flooding possible.

“Values range from 70% to 250% of average for the week ahead, driest in Munster and wettest in the midlands and east,” it said.

Soil temperatures are currently near or above average, ranging between 14.8°C in the northwest (0.5°C above average) to 20°C in the southeast (3.8°C above average).

Soil temperatures may fall a little closer to normal in the southeast with the added moisture in the coming days, it said.

Drying conditions will be mostly poor this week and spraying conditions will be limited.