Sunshine and heavy showers expected over bank holiday weekend

The August bank holiday weekend will start off dry and sunny but will turn wet on Monday with the possibility of torrential rain and spot flooding.

Saturday is forecast to have some bright or sunny spells with temperatures of between 18 and 22 degrees expected across the country.

Sunday will see highs of 23 degrees, but the west of the country could see longer spells of rain and there is the risk of thunder.

Bank holiday Monday will start off dry, but heavy showers in the southwest will later become widespread. There is a risk of thundery rain, which could lead to spot flooding, on Monday and that will establish a pattern for the following days with a lot of rain forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday.

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"There will be frequent heavy, thundery downpours," said Met Éireann forecaster Liz Gavin. "On the upside of things we will see pleasant sunshine between the showers and temperatures will be slightly above normal.

“Friday is the last day of the settled spell. Low pressure is going to dominate. We can expect to see heavy rain next week.”

Sunnier

July was warmer, drier and sunnier than the norm almost everywhere with some parts of the State enjoying their driest July for 30 years.

Just 33.9mm of rain was recorded at Sherkin Island in Co Cork, the lowest amount in July since 1989. Nearby Roches Point recorded 32.5mm of rain, which is 52 per cent of the long-term average for the month.

Most places were drier than normal with the exception of the west of Ireland. Claremorris's monthly total of 120mm was 162 per cent of the monthly average for July. More than a third of that, 49.5mm, fell on July 19th, making it the wettest day in the town since 2010.

Temperatures were above average everywhere with the highest temperature of the month, 26.6 degrees, recorded at the Phoenix Park in Dublin on July 22nd. The average temperature at the Phoenix Park during the month was 16.8 degrees, some 1.2 degrees above the monthly average.

The sunny southeast lived up to its billing with almost 200 hours of sunshine being recorded at Johnstown Castle in Co Wexford last month. By contrast Knock Airport in Co Mayo recorded just 105.9 hours of sunshine, 80 per cent of the average for July.