A weather expert has lifted the lid on what to expect for the Ploughing Championships next week.

The annual agricultural event takes place from Tuesday, September 15 to Thursday, September 17 in Tullamore, Co Offaly.

More than 350 participants compete across 34 classes. There are also other competitions including the Brown Bread Baking competition, as well as stalls upon stalls.

Weather
Shoppers in the rain on Dublin’s Grafton Street. Pic: Tom Honan

Alan O’Reilly of Carlow Weather took to social media on Tuesday to share details of the weather forecast for the remainder of the week.

The weather expert confirmed that the ‘best’ of the sunny spells for the rest of the week would be on Wednesday morning.

He added that the day will see a ‘few showers but not too many.’

ploughing championships
The National Ploughing Championships at Screggan in Tullamore, Co Offaly. Pic: Tom Honan

Alan said: ‘If we look at the forecast, we can see that we will have some showers on Thursday; a risk of some heavy showers on Thursday, but very scattered.

‘Highest risk, probably in the North. A little bit breezy.’

The weather man continued to say that Friday would see ‘the very odd shower’ while Saturday will see heavier rainfall — likely beginning overnight on Friday.

‘Sunday’s a better day; Monday’s showers, and then as we look to the ploughing next week, at the moment it doesn’t look too bad at all,’ Alan said.

‘We might see an odd shower, maybe, especially on Tuesday, but at the moment it looks pretty good for the ploughing, so that’s the good news.’

Alan noted that temperatures had ‘eased back’ but would pick up on Saturday. He added that the early days of next week would be milder again.

Met Éireann say next week will see further changeable conditions with spells of rain or showers.

They said: ‘Monday will be warm with highs of 17 to 21 degrees, before dropping back to the mid teens for the rest of the week.’