Summer finally arrived in Ireland at the weekend with tens of thousands of people enjoying the sunshine at the beach, parks and lakes as the country basked in the best weather of the year so far writes Dan Buckley.
And the good news is that the sunshine is here to stay for this week at least, with temperatures set to be above average for this time of the year.
The outlook is that the good weather will last until the long weekend at least, with the midlands and the west enjoying the best of the sunshine.
“Tuesday will see plentiful sunshine through the day and most areas will hold dry,” said Met Éireann, forecasting temperatures of over 21C for the rest of the week.
“It will be rather warm, with above normal maxima, widely rising to 21C or even 22C.”
Sunburn Index for Tuesday.
— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) May 31, 2016
High in all areas
Dry, warm, and sunny with highs of 19 to 23C. Cooler on north and northwest coasts due to moderate northerly winds and patches of sea fog
— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) May 31, 2016
Tomorrow will again be sunny and warm with hazy sunshine and temperatures ranging from 19 to 22 degrees.
Temperatures will be a few degrees lower though for north and northwest counties with onshore breezes and possibly a little low cloud or fog.
Winds will be northerly and light to moderate. However, the weather is not completely settled and some showery rain can be expected in some areas.
It will be much duller day on Thursday, especially in the east of Leinster, where there is the likelihood of occasional rain or drizzle.
It will be brighter in the west of the country, though, with some nice sunny spells. Temperatures will be a little lower than recent days but still above normal for most areas.
Highest temperatures will range 14C to 20C, all the while best in the west.
It will be coolest along the east coast, with moderate to fresh northeast winds feeding in off the Irish Sea.
But the sun will make another appearance on Friday with good spells of sunshine across the country.
It will be a warmer and brighter day than Thursday, with highest temperatures of 16 to 22 degrees Celsius.
Good spells of sunshine are expected and it should hold fully dry with just light northeast breezes.
There is, however, a chance of the odd burst of showery rain, with local sea breezes developing along western coasts through the day.
Current indications suggest the warm spell will persist into the weekend, with the start of June bursting out all over.
Met Éireann forecaster David Rogers said: “Current indications suggest the warm spell will persist into next weekend, possibly with even higher temperatures.
“Most of the temperatures will be higher than normal and it will be quite pleasant.
“It is too soon to tell but the general trend will probably be the same at least for the start of the June Bank Holiday weekend.”
This story first appeared in the Irish Examiner .