Warm weather ahead, says Met Éireann

Ireland is set to get some respite from the seemingly relentless battering of Atlantic storms - and while St Patrick’s weekend may be cloudy at times, Met Éireann has predicted further good weather for next week.

According to Met Éireann an anti-cyclone from the Azores is moving into place blocking cold Atlantic weather, and bringing with it warmer than average temperatures for this time of year.

The forecast for Tuesday is another dry, spring-like day, with frost soon clearing and fog thinning during the morning to give sunny periods. There will be light, south to southeast breezes generally and highest temperatures of 10 to 13 degrees Celsius.

Chief forecaster Gerald Fleming said the outlook for the next four or five days is for “settled weather” - something he said the country has not seen since last November.

Today and the next few days should see a mainly dry period with the high pressure continuing to dominate, giving daytime temperatures a welcome few degrees above normal.

However nights are set to be cold with some frost and fog developing. Tuesday night will be dry and cold, with a mixture of clear spells and some cloudy periods. Lowest temperatures plus one to minus two degrees, with a sharp to severe frost and also some patches of mist and fog.

Wednesday should be another dry, bright day, with a mixture of sunny spells and occasional cloudy periods. After a cold start, afternoon temperatures should reach 10 to maybe 14 degrees, in light to moderate onshore breezes. Again it will be cold overnight, with frost and some fog forming under any clear skies and temperatures falling below freezing in places.

Temperatures in the low to mid teens on Thursday may fall back to more normal values by Friday. While some cloud may be expected over the weekend festivities, Mr Fleming said rainfall would be likely confined to the west of the country.

However as the cloudy front moves away the high pressure influences will return with the possibility of another sunny week from Monday next.

“While he said forecasts were less reliable the further out they were, Mr Fleming said it was possible to say next week was likely to feature more high pressure. “ And we would be inclined to be optimistic” he said.