Wet weekend spells to bring end to early spring sunshine

Temperatures are set to tumble over coming days as clouds and scattered showers replace the near-tropical conditions of late.

Following highs of 18 degrees again today, cloud cover will start to extend from the east over the course of Friday. Although initial rainfall will be light, heavier showers are expected in the south, west and parts of the north over Saturday night and into Sunday.

The mercury will struggle to rise above single figures in many parts over the weekend, with sub-zero temperatures expected on Sunday night. There will be blustery winds on Saturday but the wind is due to die down on Sunday.

Tuesday was the warmest day of the year so far, with readings of almost 19 degrees recorded in some inland meteorological stations. Some counties rose six and seven degrees above average for early April during what was an exceptionally sunny week.

The good news is that clear skies are set to make a return on Monday heading into the early part of next week, but the weather will remain relatively cool with highs of 12 degrees expected.

"On Friday there is a change, it does look as if it will be a cloudier day.There will be some showers in the east during the day, and it will be a cooler, breezier day with outbreaks of rain pushing into the west later on," said forecaster Gerry Murphy.

“It doesn’t give that much rain but it does introduce much cooler air which means that the maximum temperatures for Saturday are between 8 and 12, which is not that cold but is a significant drop of 7 degrees in some places,” he added.

The pleasant early April weather provided a marked contrast with what was a cold, wet and windy March which saw many places under near-constant cloud cover for most of the month.