A wet and windy start to the day, Monday showers of rain will move across the country in a northeast direction. Some of the spills will be heavy but there will dry and warm spells too. Temperatures will range from 14°C to 18°C.

After some early rain on Tuesday it will turn out to be a mostly dry and settled day. However, there is a chance of some rain along the south coast later in the evening. Top Tuesday temperatures of 15°C to 16°C.

It will be a damp start to the day on Wednesday for those along the east coast. Sunny spells will develop everywhere but there is a risk of showers in the west in the late afternoon. Temperatures will again be in the range of 15°C to 16°C.

Thursday will be a largely wet day with widespread showers with some of these heavy at times.

For Friday and into the weekend, the forecast is for the unsettled conditions to continue.

Farming forecast

Rain

Prior to Friday, there was no rainfall in the past week. The rain, which fell mainly over the midlands, totalled between 20mm to 25mm. There were two separate rainfall warnings over the weekend, one on Friday and one on Sunday.

Met Éireann is forecasting more this coming week and rainfall amounts are likely to be above the weekly average.

Field and drying conditions

The weekend’s rain was welcomed by the majority of farmers as grass growth was slowing due to the extended dry period. Those on heavier soils reported strong grass growth.

This week’s forecasted rain will inhibit drying and farmers on heavy soils or lands with poor drainage will be hoping that rainfall is kept to a minimum.

Overall, the only drying this week will be whatever sunny spells occur in between the showers.