April showers set to follow sunny spell

AFTER A glorious weekend of unbroken sunshine especially in the east, normal April weather returns this week.

Though the conventional wisdom would have us believe the sun only splits the stones when everybody is chained to their desks and then disappears for the weekend, most parts of the country were lucky that the opposite occurred last week with four days of beautiful weather.

An April high of 21.2 degrees at Valentia Island in Co Kerry was recorded on Friday and it is unprecedented to have such warm temperatures so early in April.

The east coast enjoyed the best of the sunshine yesterday with Dublin Airport recording a high of 20.1 degrees. The best temperatures yesterday were all experienced in the east, with Oak Park in Co Carlow recording 19.6 degrees and Mullingar recording a high of 18.9 degrees.

With the end of the weekend has come a change in the weather. The high pressure area will be replaced by more traditional April showers and temperatures of between 10 and 13 degrees with plenty of rain.

A weather front has pushed in from the northwest bringing with it distinctly cooler temperatures and rain particularly in the west.

Then it is a case of April showers especially in the north and west with a chance of hail and even some thunderstorms.

“We’re going to feel it because the winds are going to come from the west and northwest and there is going to be a freshness,” said Met Éireann forecaster Eoin Sherlock.

For the rest of the week there will be typical April weather through to the weekend with a lot of brightness and showers.

Met Éireann is seeking planning permission to relocate the air monitoring part of its operations from off the main Ring of Kerry.

It wants to relocate from south of the town of Cahersiveen to a 59-acre site in the northwest of Valentia Island because of concerns the site on the mainland has become “compromised” by an increase in housing and other development and vehicular traffic in recent years.

The Valentia observatory is one of the foremost scientific institutes in the country and one of the oldest monitoring stations in the world. It dates to 1860 when it was located on the island and as well as air, it monitors seismology and geomagnetism. A decision is due in May.