THE LONG weekend should be warm, mostly dry and reasonably sunny, according to Met Eireann, but it will almost certainly come to a wet end.
A ridge of high pressure is crossing the country eastwards and being chased by Atlantic rain belts. The good news is that these should not arrive in the west until Sunday. Temperatures will reach the low 20 C during the day, falling to about 10C at night with mist and fog.
Meanwhile, roads, railways, air and sea ports are experiencing one of the busiest weekends of the year. Thousands of people are travelling within the State, including the hurling supporters of Limerick, Galway, Antrim and Wexford, who are descending on Dublin for Sunday's All Ireland semi finals.
Iarnrod Eireann expects over 200,000 passengers to travel by rail over the weekend, with 25 special trains being provided in addition to the regular schedules. Aer Lingus expects to carry 117,000 passengers and Stena Sealink predicts 79,000 passengers and 12,500 cars by Monday. Bus Eireann will carry up to 100,000 passengers.
Travellers can avail of many midday and mid afternoon services on Expressway routes today. Most Sunday services will run tomorrow. A Sunday service will run on Monday, with extra evening services to cater for people returning to main centres.
DART, Arrow and suburban trains will operate normally over the weekend, except on Monday when a Sunday timetable applies.
Of the Aer Lingus passengers, 110,000 will use scheduled services. Charter flights will take 7,000 passengers between Ireland and France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, Tunisia, Jersey, Blackpool, as well as the Canary and Balearic Islands.
Among those flying home after the weekend are Ireland's Olympic athletes, expected in Dublin airport at about 8.30 a.m. on Tuesday. Aer Rianta has warned those flying out on Tuesday to allow time for delays.
The National Safety Council urges caution on the roads and in the water.