Warm weekend ahead after coldest April in decades

Summer is on the way as temperatures are expected to rise to 21 degrees this weekend after the coldest and dullest April in decades.

People across Ireland are struggling to pack away their thermals after being unexpectedly hit with snow and hail showers last week.

A Met Éireann report showed it was the coldest April in Dublin in 16 to 30 years with mean temperatures between 1 to 1.5 degrees below average.

Forecaster Elizabeth Galvin said there would be a "warm change in the air" over the next few days.

“Last week we had air coming from the Arctic bringing lots of cold weather,” she said.

“Basically we now have a front of Atlantic Sea, bringing a lot of dry weather.”

Ms Galvin said the weather would be dry in most places across the State on Thursday.

Forecaster John Eagleton said the best days would be next Monday and Tuesday before conditions settle.

“The charts are showing us it will reach 21 degrees and 22 degrees. It may not be as high in Dublin because the winds will be easterly, but certainly in the midlands and the west of the country, that is what we are forecasting.”

Ireland will “get some of what they (Britain) are getting” across the water, Mr Eagleton said.

“Maybe we are getting an Irish heatwave,” he joked. “The Italians would laugh at it, but we’ll take whatever we can get.”

Mr Eagleton said it had been a late spring, which is not unheard of.

“This will make up for it now - there will be a real burst of growth,” he said.

Some showers of rain are expected over the weekend, the majority on Saturday, but it will be mainly dry and mild.

Official figures released by Met Éireann on Wednesday showed temperatures dropped as low as -3 degrees in Sligo last month.

Dublin recorded coldest April in 27 years — with ground frost recorded in the capital on 23 days of the month.

The city also endured its dullest April since 1998, according to records from the weather station at Casement Aerodrome

Cork Airport recorded the month’s overal wettest day on the 10th at 44.1mm, the wettest April day since 1978.

Additional reporting: PA