Sunny southwest clocks up 96 hours of sunshine

The southwest of Ireland has recorded 2.5 times its average sunshine hours over the past week.

Valentia in Kerry was Ireland’s sunniest location, recording 96.6 hours, which is 244% of the average amount for this time of year.

Met Éireann says the least amount of sunshine was recorded at Casement Aerodrome in Dublin with 68.7 hours recorded.

The southwest was slightly warmer than normal, while the northeast was a bit cooler than normal.

The past week has been very dry countrywide with little or no rainfall recorded.

Parts of Ireland will see their first rainfall since late April from Sunday afternoon to Tuesday morning before largely settled conditions return for the remainder of next week.

A depression over the Bay of Biscay will track towards Ireland’s south coast later this weekend to bring scattered, thundery showers merging into longer spells of rain at times.

Parts of East Ulster may remain completely dry during the period, with rainfall totals of 10-25mm possible elsewhere.