Normal service set to resume with unsettled weather

FOR A glorious week the weather lifted the spirits of a recession- battered country, but it was too good to last.

Normal service will resume this weekend. Showers and a cool northeasterly airflow are set to return us to summer weather we have become accustomed to in recent years.

A low pressure area over the English Channel is set to bring showers today to parts of Leinster and Munster.

Moreover, the rainbelt will push across the country to all areas on Saturday and Sunday, and temperatures – which will be between the mid and high teens – will be below normal.

“No place can be guaranteed to escape the showers and it will feel fairly cool because of the fresh northeast wind. In absolute terms it is not going to be disastrous, but it is going to be a significant change given the weather we have had,” said Met Éireann forecaster Dr Aidan Nulty.

Conditions are likely to last until Tuesday, but there is a possibility of a pick-up after that, although not as good as the recent balmy weather.

“I can’t see it being completely dry, but I can see a reasonable amount of dry weather where people can go out and do things,” said Dr Nulty.

Many areas recorded their highest temperatures for the last three years this week.

On Tuesday, Claremorris and Newport in Co Mayo, Birr in Co Offaly and Mountdillon in Co Roscommon all recorded temperatures above 27 degrees, and large swathes of the country recorded temperatures of 26 degrees or greater.

Other stations had near record sunshine levels. Knock airport recorded 15.7 hours on Wednesday, its best for 13 years. Cork airport and Cahirciveen also recorded more than 15 hours.

Dr Nulty said weeks of fine weather are usually rare and correspond with outstanding summers such as 1976 and 1995, which was the best summer of the century.

“It is very hard to see a repeat of that . . . but there will be breaks and then it will pick up again. That’s more like a normal summer.”