SUNSCREEN in the east, umbrellas in the west. That just about sums up the weather picture for most of the early part of today. By late afternoon and evening, the forecast is for umbrellas in all areas.
According to Met Eireann, south western areas such as Cork and Kerry will start the day with rain, which will be very slow to move eastwards. In the western half of the country the weather will be "pretty active, thundery".
Areas along the east coast from Wexford to Dublin will enjoy hazy sunshine all morning and a "medium sunburn" index, according to Mr Vincent O'Shea of Met Eireann. Top temperatures will be up to 20 Celsius in inland areas. From early afternoon, however, there will be rain in much of Ulster and east Leinster.
Ireland's Olympians would be well advised to carry their umbrellas when they travel tomorrow in their open topped busses to Dublin city centre. Rain is expected to clear by dawn tomorrow but there will be "showery bits" through the day.
Later in the week, Mr O'Shea said, the best of the weather will be in the southern half of the country with temperatures of up to 21 or 22 on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Initial forecasts are for a sunny start to next weekend.