THE WEATHER is set to turn unsettled again for the foreseeable future with torrential rain forecast in some places this week.
The weather is promised changeable up until the August Bank Holiday weekend and there looks like no reprieve as far forward as forecasters can tell.
Just as people were becoming accustomed to a rare spell of dry sunny weather, things are set to change again from this evening.
The good weather over the weekend and today, which will be fine throughout the country with spells of hazy sunshine, will give way to much wetter conditions.
The good news is that temperatures will be in the lower 20s and above average for the time of the year with warm spells of sunshine.
But the forecasted rain will be heavy in parts, with some southern counties getting more than three inches (80mms) this week.
Parts of Cork and Kerry will get a month’s rainfall in the space of a few days. The worst of the rain is expected tomorrow.
Rainfall in the east and west is likely to be two and a half times the monthly average with only Ulster getting anything like a normal level of rainfall for the time of year.
The seven-day Galway racing festival which begins today is likely to see warm spells of sunshine with some thundery showers.
“For the rest of the week there is an area of low pressure close to us and low pressure in the upper atmosphere. That means a lot of rain falling as heavy showers and also a lot of humid weather,” said Met Éireann forecaster Siobhán Ryan.
Last week was exceptionally dry, with only 10 per cent of the normal rainfall, although temperatures, which reached a maximum of 23 degrees in Mullingar on Saturday, were not exceptional for July.
Unfortunately, there is no prospect of more sunny conditions as the August Bank Holiday approaches and the holiday season enters its busiest month.
“Looking at things at the moment, there is no respite unfortunately,” Ms Ryan said.
Met Éireann does not speculate beyond five days, but the UK’s Met Office is also forecasting above-average rainfall and low amounts of sunshine for the beginning of next month and into the middle of August.
