Met Éireann signal weekend weather u-turn for Ireland with temperatures to plunge

Met Éireann is predicting a big change in our weather fortunes from Sunday onwards after a largely dry and mild spell comes to an end.

In their outlook for the weekend and the early part of next week, Met Éireann said: "Mild and mostly cloudy over the next few days, with a lot of dry weather as high pressure remains close by, but with drizzle, mist and fog in parts and with some rain at times, especially further west, though amounts will be low. From Sunday and the early days of next week, it'll be cooler and dry generally and it'll be much brighter and clearer with some sunshine."

Between now and Sunday, there will still be plenty of decent weather around. 

Met Éireann's forecast for Thursday says "it'll be mostly cloudy and dry in many areas, but there'll be some drizzle, mainly in the south and southwest and in some western coastal parts at times. There'll be some hill and coastal mist and fog too, mainly in southern parts. Highest temperatures of 12 to 16 degrees in mostly moderate, occasionally fresh and gusty southeasterly winds, strong for a time in western coastal areas."

They add that on Thursday night, "it will be mostly cloudy with some mist and drizzle and with a little rain moving into the southwest and west. There'll be some hill and coastal fog too, mainly in the south and southwest. Lowest temperatures of 10 to 13 degrees in mostly moderate southeast winds, fresh at times in some western and southern coastal parts."

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The forecast continues: "Friday will be mostly cloudy with some mist and drizzle, mainly in the south and southwest and with a little rain at times in the southwest and west, with the chance of the odd moderate burst in the southwest. There'll be some hill and coastal fog too, mainly in the south and southwest. Highest temperatures of 12 to 15 degrees in moderate, occasionally fresh southeast winds.

"Friday night will be cloudy with a lot of dry weather, but with some mist and drizzle and some fog too, most widespread in the south and southwest. There'll be a little rain also, mainly in the southwest and possibly in the west too. Lowest temperatures of 10 to 13 degrees with the winds gradually decreasing light to moderate southeasterly.

"Saturday will be another mostly cloudy day with a lot of dry weather overall, but with a little light rain and drizzle in places at times along with some hill and coastal mist and fog. There's the likelihood of a few bright or limited sunny spells developing for a short time, mainly in the west in the afternoon. Highest temperatures of 12 to 16 degrees in light to moderate southeast winds, fresher at times though in western coastal parts.

"Saturday night will be mostly cloudy with some drizzle, patchy light rain and mist and with a band of more persistent rain tracking eastwards. A clearance to mainly dry cooler weather will push in across the western half of the country later on. Lowest temperatures of 9 to 13 degrees in moderate, occasionally fresh, southerly winds, veering westerly as the rain clears.

"The last of the rain will quickly clear eastwards on Sunday morning, and the rest of the day will be mainly dry and bright, with plenty of sunshine. There'll just be a few isolated showers, mainly in the north and northwest. Much fresher than recently with highest afternoon temperatures of 11 to 14 degrees in mostly moderate westerly winds, fresher in coastal parts of the north and northwest."

It's Sunday night we see a big change with cooler conditions incoming.

"Sunday night will be colder than recent nights and it'll be dry with clear spells. Lowest temperatures of 4 to 9 degrees with west to northwest winds decreasing mostly light, a little fresher for a time in coastal parts of the north and northwest. A touch of frost is possible especially in the south and southeast," Met Éireann's forecast says.

"Monday will be a dry day with a mix of cloud and sunshine. Highest temperatures of 10 to 13 degrees in light to moderate west to northwest winds.

"Monday night will be dry with clear spells and with a few patches of mist and fog forming. Lowest temperatures of 3 to 7 degrees, in light northwest breezes, and with a touch of frost in parts," they concluded.