Heat, humidity and gale force winds in store for the weekend

The weekend looks set to be hot, humid and cloudy with temperatures expected to reach 24 degrees.

Met Éireann forecasters have predicted rain and drizzle to fall "on and off" across the State on Saturday and Sunday, although umbrellas might not be of much use as gale force winds along the coast are expected to arrive.

Friday will be a dry and sunny day with light showers and temperatures between 17 to 20 degrees.

Meteorologist Gerry Murphy said Saturday will be a very warm and humid day with temperatures between 19 to 24 degrees.

“24 degrees is well above average for this time of year, it’s normally about 17 to 18 degrees,” he said.

“It will be very muggy, quite cloudy, very humid and breezy.

“There’ll rain at times on and off during the day but it won’t be exceptionally heavy.”

Later in the day, hill and coastal fog will develop and the "unseasonably windy" weather will remain in Connacht and Ulster.

The strong winds will remain on Sunday, particularly along the coast.

Mr Murphy said the temperature will drop to about 20 degrees on Sunday but it will still be “quite warm”, particularly in the east.

“Sunday is a bright and blustery day, and windy along coasts. It’ll be breezy and fresh further inland,” he said.

Persistent rain will develop later in the day along the west and northwest coast and spread eastwards.

The good news for next week is that rainfall will be “well below normal” for most of the country.

Monday will be a cooler and fresher day with sunny spells and showers with temperatures between 15 and 18 degrees.

From midweek, mostly dry weather is expected, with some patchy rain, mainly in the west and north.

Last month the hottest temperature was recorded at Mount Dillon, Co Roscommon, on July 19th when the high was 30.4 degrees.