It was good while it lasted: Rain on the way as sunny spell to end

The fine stretch of sunny weather over the Easter weekend is to end on Wednesday with rain showers and lower temperatures expected, Met Éireann has said.

The forecast for Tuesday is for some sunshine later in the day, with top temperatures in parts still expected to hit 17-21 degrees. There will be some rain showers, mainly in the northwest of the country, the national forecaster said.

Tuesday night will see the start of widespread rain moving up across the country from the southeast, with lowest temperatures at 8 degrees.

Met Éireann has warned Wednesday will see heavy rain and thunder for most of the country. There will be moderate southerly winds, with highest temperatures in the midlands and the south to reach 15 degrees, dropping later in the day.

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Lowest temperatures will fall to 5 degrees as spells of colder wind and rainfall spread across the country into Wednesday night.

Thursday will see more of the same with long periods of rainfall, and some thunder. However highest temperatures may still hit up to 15 degrees, close to the seasonal average, forecasters predict.

Heavy rain showers are expected on Friday and into the weekend. Maximum temperatures will range between nine to 12 degrees, dropping to as low as 0 degrees at night, with frost also expected.

Temperatures hit 21 degrees across several Met Éireann weather stations on Easter Monday, with the country enjoying a weekend of dry, sunny weather.

Northern Ireland recorded its warmest ever Easter, with a temperature of 21.4 degrees recorded in Co Armagh on Monday, beating the previous record of 21.1 degrees in Co Fermanagh in 1984. Easter Sunday also saw record temperatures in the North.

The dry weather did see wildfires in Donegal on Monday, which burnt over hundreds of acres of land and at one stage threatened homes.

More than a dozen fire tenders and hundreds of locals attempted from 6am to halt the blaze, which first started in Annagry. The fire quickly spread to the neighbouring villages of Loughanure and Belcruit and towards Dungloe.

Locals organised buses and shared cars in a effort to bring people to help in areas hit hardest by the fires to try to prevent them from spreading. Shops and businesses provided water, food, face masks and shovels to those involved in the effort.

Firefighters in north Dublin were also called out to deal with a small gorse fire on Dollymount beach on Monday evening.