Temperatures are forecast to reach up to 16 degrees on Saturday, according to Met Éireann, as warm and sunny spring weather accompanies Ireland’s extended bank holiday weekend.
The national forecaster said more than 11 hours of sunshine were recorded on Friday at Dublin Airport’s weather station, while forecasters in the UK today are expecting the warmest day of the year to date.
Met Éireann meteorologist Deirdre Lowe said Ireland is set to enjoy sunshine and warm temperatures for the foreseeable future, owing to a high pressure system currently over Europe.
“At the moment, the high [pressure] is centred over Denmark and I believe it’s actually a record-breaking high... so it’ll take quite a while for the high to break down,” she told Newstalk radio.
“So the mainly settled weather looks like [it’s] continuing for the coming week or possibly longer as well, but as I said, there will be one or two showers in the next couple of days.”
Today will be dry & mostly sunny, but breezy too, in fresh & gusty southeast winds. ?
Some cloud may affect southern & southwestern counties at times. ?️
Highs of 10 to 16C, warmest across the midlands & northwest. ? pic.twitter.com/CFm7UmMYQ5
— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) March 19, 2022
The UK Met Office has said the mercury could hit 20 degrees in northwest Scotland and the Moray coast on Saturday, as the UK experiences “wall-to-wall sunshine”.
In Ireland, top temperatures between 10 and 16 degrees are forecast, with the warmest weather expected across the midlands and northwest.
Met Éireann said today will be dry and mostly sunny, but breezy too, while some cloud will affect southwestern counties at times.
It will also stay mainly dry tonight, with lowest temperatures of four to eight degrees.
Sunday will be somewhat cloudier than today, with the best of any sunny spells in the northeast and east.
It will again be dry overall, outside of a few light showers, and a little cooler in general with highest temperatures of nine to 13 degrees.
Sunshine?recorded today, 18-03-2022 at 7 of our synoptic weather stations ranged from 11.2hrs at Dublin Airport to 4.2hrs at Johnstown Castle.
View today's full weather reports from our synoptic weather stations on our Current Observations page ⬇️https://t.co/MvCx72KIaT pic.twitter.com/HMoH7eY5VR
— Met Éireann (@MetEireann) March 18, 2022
Next week looks to continue overall dry and settled "with warm spells of spring sunshine."
Monday will see long spells of spring sunshine across most areas. There will be some scattered showers in the morning, though these are forecast to die out through the day.
Temperatures could reach as high as 17 degrees, and it will be warmest across the west, and coolest across the east and southeast counties due to moderate southeast breezes.
Met Éireann said current indications show a good deal of dry and sunny weather well into next week.
It will be very mild or even warm in the sunshine, with highest temperatures set to be seen across the western half of the country, climbing into the mid or even high teens.
