We’re finally into the last month of Winter in Ireland and it looks as if the rain is returning with a vengeance to mark the first week of February.
Things look settled enough for the next couple of days, but Thursday will bring rainfall and strong winds before things settle down into the weekend.
The Irish forecaster says today will be breezy and cloudy with some bright spells, but there will be scattered outbreaks of light rain and drizzle that will become more persistent in northern areas during the evening.
Highest temperatures will range from 10 to 12 degrees with fresh to strong westerly winds.
Wednesday will bring a fair amount of dry weather in the morning, with some bright or sunny periods and just isolated drizzle.
It will become cloudier later in the day and outbreaks of light rain and drizzle will be more frequent with highs of 8 to 11 degrees and a moderate westerly wind.
Things take a turn on Thursday as rain moves into the northwest in the morning - which will be heavy at times.
The band of showers will move southeastwards across the country through the morning and afternoon and will be followed by sunny spells and more scattered showers from the northwest.
“It will be windy and sometimes squally,” the forecaster says, with fresh to strong and gusty southwesterly winds developing.
Overnight temperatures will also drop and are expected to range from freezing at 0 to 5 degrees.
Winds will turn west to northwest and ease a little once the rain clears through and temperatures will reach 8 to 11 degrees in the morning but it will become much colder after the rain passes.
Friday will bring cold but sunny spells and scattered showers of rain or sleet.
The showers will be most frequent in the north and west and highest afternoon temperatures of 5 to 8 degrees are expected with a moderate to fresh westerly wind.
As for the weekend ahead, at this point Met Eireann says: “There is some uncertainty in the forecast for the weekend, but at the moment it looks like a return to milder weather, with rain affecting the northern half of the country but drier and sometimes brighter weather further south.”
