Cloud free skies over Ireland

The NASA Modis satellite captured a cloud free view of Ireland at midday on Saturday.

Stubborn low cloud spilling in from the North Sea continued to spoil matters for England, much of which has been shrouded in cloud in recent days.

Those living on the extreme Atlantic edge of the Loop Head Peninsula in County Clare would consider themselves unlucky as a thin layer of cloud brushed the coastline.

Temperatures will reach 24-25c in parts of the west and northwest of Ireland on Saturday afternoon.

Warm and dry weather to continue until Friday

Ireland’s weather will remain largely dry up to next Friday, when a return to more seasonal conditions with occasional rain mixed with drier intervals.

Isolated showers, some of which will be thundery, will affect southern and eastern counties during Tuesday, but widespread sunshine is expected for the next six days.

The shift to less settled conditions will be gradual, and overall anticipated rainfall totals as we head into the end of May are unlikely to dramatically reverse low reservoir levels and high soil moisture deficits that are inhibiting growth.

Temperatures will reach the low to mid-twenties up to and including Thursday but will gradually decrease from Friday through the weekend to the mid to high teens. Nights will be frost-free.