Widespread sunshine over coming days before weather turns on Easter Sunday

Sunny spells will dominate over the next few days, but temperatures are expected to drop from Easter Sunday, Met Éireann has predicted.

Wednesday will be generally cloudy, with scattered outbreaks of rain and drizzle mainly affecting the western half of the country. Any lingering fog will clear on Wednesday morning in the east, making way for a dry afternoon bathed in sunshine. Western dwellers will experience highest temperatures of 10 to 13 degrees, while people living in the east can expect temperatures up to 16 degrees, according to the national forecaster.

Patchy rain will affect northern and southern coastal counties overnight, while misty patches will develop in light to moderate breezes, the service predicted.

Met Éireann meteorologist Aoife Kealy said an anticyclone to the northwest of Ireland, around Greenland, will push warm and settled weather across the country over the next few days.

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“High pressure will build from the north and that is going to bring your good and settled weather . . . It will be really nice and bright on Friday,” she said.

Thursday will bring good spells of sunshine, perhaps punctuated by some drizzle in eastern and coastal areas as cloud pushes in from the Irish Sea, according to the meteorological service. Highest temperatures could reach 18 degrees in the south, although a little cooler in the breezy east.

Widespread sunshine

Widespread sunshine will reign again on Friday, which is expected to be a dry day with temperatures of up to 16 degrees. Again, eastern areas may be slightly cooler due to light northeasterly breezes.

The forecaster said Thursday and Friday nights will be cooler, with mist and fog developing in light breezes. Lowest temperatures could reach zero degrees overnight on Friday.

The weekend will start largely dry with generous bouts of sunshine, although cloud will build through Saturday afternoon.

“It will probably be a little more cloudy on Saturday but there will still be plenty of sunny spells,” Ms Kealy said. There will be highest temperatures of 10 to 14 degrees.

A cold front will move down from the north from Sunday morning. It will be “quite cool during the day and cold at night”, Ms Kealy added. Rain will push down from the north towards dawn on Sunday, heralding the start of a wetter and cooler couple of days. Easter Sunday and Monday will be dampened by widespread showers from the north, which will turn wintry at times. Frost will sweep across the country at night.

Looking into the second week of the Easter holidays, there remains some “variation” in model predictions, Ms Kealy said. It seems there could be some persistence of cold air and the general picture of next week looks to be “quite cold and unsettled”, she said.