Status yellow rain warning hanging over seven counties

Those eagerly looking forward to exam weather this week have been left sorely disappointed by a blanket of heavy cloud which remains over much of the country despite the start of State exams.

And the bad news is that the Leaving and Junior Cert exams could well be finished before the spell of cold, wet and windy weather which has characterised the start of the Irish summer lifts.

A Status Yellow rain warning is hanging over seven counties until Thursday morning with up to 32mm of rain expected across Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo.

As a miserable week reached its midway point, there was little optimism among Irish forecasters who all but completely ruled out anything by way of a summer’s day until the middle of the month at the earliest.

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There will be more heavy rain overnight on Wednesday especially over the north and west with temperatures set to fall to as low as 2 degrees during clear spells in the south to a comparatively balmy 7 or 8 degrees further north.

Thursday will be mostly cloudy with further outbreaks of rain in most places - most persistent in the northwest with temperatures struggling to reach even 15 degrees.

Overnight on Thursday there will be more showery rain in the north and west while a a good deal of dry weather with some clear spells is likely elsewhere. Temperatures will range from 3 to 7 degrees Celsius with the coldest weather likely in the south and southwest of the country.

Friday will start dry in most areas with a few bright or sunny spells breaking through the cloud.

The best of the sunshine is likely to be in the east in the early morning and over the course of the afternoon some scattered showers will develop with some cloudier conditions and possibly longer spells of rain developing along the east and southeast coast by late afternoon or evening time.

Temperatures will be no higher than 16 degrees.

Weekend

Saturday will start damp and cloudy although there will be some bright or sunny intervals over the course of the afternoon along with scattered showers. A few of the showers are likely to be heavy especially in the southwest and west.

Sunday will start much the same way that Saturday ended with dry weather likely in the east and northeast of the country with a few bright or sunny spells and a few light showers in the western half of the country. Through the course of the afternoon the showers will become more widespread across the country with a few turning heavy and possibly thundery in the afternoon and evening.

It is likely that the early days of next week will be dominated by low pressure bringing showers and longer spells of rain and below average temperatures - only reaching in the low to mid-teens.

The gloomy predictions of the days ahead have prompted one bookie to slash the odds on a wet summer.

A flood of bets with Ladbrookes saw the company slash the odds of Ireland having its wettest summer on record to just 3/1 down from 6/1 less than a week ago.

“Studies showed Ireland endured the wettest decade on record not so long ago and the odds on that trend continuing look likely,” said spokeswoman Nicola McGeady.