Coming week to bring mix of sunny spells and April showers

The warm and dry spell will gradually come to an end this weekend as temperatures and rainfall totals return to the seasonal average.

Saturday will start dry and sunny, but clouds will build from the west in the late morning with light rain or drizzle developing there by early evening. Feeling cooler than lately with top temperatures of 12 to 17°C.Light rain and drizzle will clear eastwards overnight as temperatures drop to 2°C to 7°C, mildest in coastal locations.

Sunday will start bright, but scattered, heavy showers will push into the west as the day progresses. Some of the showers could be thundery and prolonged. It will feel colder in a gentle west-southwest wind, turning moderate to fresh later. A cool day with highs of 9 to 12°C.

Monday will bring further scattered heavy showers, most frequent in the west, with some more prolonged rain by evening in the northwest. It will be less showery further east, where there will be spells of sunshine. Temperatures will range from 10 to 13°C. Winds will initially be moderate southwesterly until late afternoon before strengthening to fresh south-southwesterly by evening. It will be even windier in the northwest with strong SSW gusts.

Winds will gradually turn to light northwesterly on Tuesday, which will be drier than the previous day with sunny spells and occasional light showers. It may stay overcast in eastern counties for much of the day. Feeling cool with daily maximums of 9 to 11°C.

Frost is likely in sheltered inland locations on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights.

Wednesday and Thursday will bring a mix of showers and sunny spells, with western and northwestern regions seeing the highest precipitation amounts.

More widespread rain is expected on Good Friday with a return to showers and sunny spells for the Easter Bank Holiday Weekend. Temperatures will be close to the seasonal average, in the range of 10 to 13°C.

There is a growing signal for drier and more settled conditions becoming established for the final week of April as high pressure builds close to or over Ireland.