Cool and sunny for the bank holiday weekend

Temperatures could fall to freezing at night as cold air crosses the country

Bluebells at Avondale House, Co Wicklow. The bank holiday weather is expected to be cool but pleasant. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
Bluebells at Avondale House, Co Wicklow. The bank holiday weather is expected to be cool but pleasant. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw

It will be dry and sunny this bank holiday weekend, as it was during the Easter bank holiday weekend.

However, there will be a marked drop in temperatures in comparison with Easter which was one of the warmest on record with highs of 22 degrees.

Friday & Saturday

Friday will see temperatures of between 9 and 11 degrees with a few showers in parts of Ulster and in eastern coastal counties, but staying dry elsewhere. It will feel cool because of a northerly breeze which will persist throughout the weekend.

It will be slightly warmer on Saturday, but getting notably colder on Saturday night.

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The nights will be clear and chilly with lows of around freezing allowing grass frost to develop.

There will be a marked north-south difference over the weekend with temperatures struggling to reach 10 degrees in the northern half of the country; the south will see temperatures of 14 degrees.

Sunday & Monday

The dry, sunny and cool temperatures will persist into Sunday and Monday with highs of 12 degrees on Sunday. It will be cold again at night with more ground frost.

On Monday there will be a few light showers across the north of the country, but it will mostly stay dry and the same pattern will persist into the middle of next week.

Met Éireann forecaster Gerry Murphy said there will be a "touch of frost" on the ground over the coming days which is unusual, but not unprecedented for May.

The combination of high pressure and a cool northerly flow of air will keep temperatures low for the weekend. “That’s why there won’t be much heat in it,” he said.

Ronan McGreevy

Ronan McGreevy

Ronan McGreevy is a news reporter with The Irish Times