While some people are fleeing south to the Canaries to escape the Irish winter, a little bit of the Canaries is coming in the opposite direction.
The strangely mild air sweeping Ireland in the last two days has its origins in the mid-Atlantic, between the Azores and the Canaries, according to Met Eireann. Pushed up here by the strong, south-westerly winds, the warm air mass is likely to stay with us at least through the weekend.
It may not make for sweltering conditions but yesterday's top temperatures of 10C to 14C were some points higher than what we normally get in January.
Similarities with the Canaries end there, however. A belt of heavy rain was "lurking" off the north-west coast last night and is expected to move across the country today. The north and west are likely to get the worst of it.
Tomorrow will be mild and wet, with rain spreading to all areas from the west but also clearing from that direction later. The beginning of next week could bring cooler conditions but "no dramatically cold weather", according to a Met Eireann spokesman.
Despite the mild conditions inland yesterday, it was business as usual offshore, at least as far as recent weeks have gone. With gales gusting to strong gale force around the coast, all four round trips of Stena Line's high-speed ferry were cancelled. The slower ferries, however, were able to sail.
