The sun finally put in a long-awaited appearance yesterday, producing the warmest day of the year so far. Temperatures reached 27 degrees and thousands of families headed for the great outdoors. The earlier wet and cool unseasonal June weather belatedly gave way to real summer and everyone was anxious to make the best of it.
Met Eireann said almost every part of the country experienced "a lot of sunshine". Shannon Airport recorded the highest temperature of 27 degrees, but other places weren't too far behind and temperatures generally ranged between 25-27 degrees.
The Dublin region took the brunt of the traffic congestion. An AA Roadwatch spokeswoman said "Dublin was crazy . . . Co Donegal - the Inishowen Peninsula - had long delays and diversions because of the big car rally and the closure of a number of roads. But the rest of the country got off reasonably lightly."
The biggest traffic jams were at Baldonnel, Co Dublin, just off the Nass Road, where thousands of families attended the Air Show Spectacular. A Garda spokesman said traffic was very heavy on the approach roads to Baldonnel where 200,000 people were expected to attend. Parking was restricted on the roads off the Naas Road and cars were directed to the official car-parks.
Most major roads in the greater Dublin region were jammed. It was bumper to bumper on roads to the beaches, especially Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow. There were long delays at the bottlenecks at Rathnew, Ashford and Kilmacanogue. Malahide, Portmarnock and beaches up the coast to Drogheda also saw large number of visitors.
Killiney had a big influx of visitors and the Vico Road was particularly busy. Howth experienced its biggest crowds of the year and the traffic problem was compounded by a burst water main outside Harry Byrne's pub.
Large crowds also turned up for the two big matches in Croke Park - Dublin v Kilkenny and Wexford v Offaly, adding to the congestion.
The forecast is for another warm day today but there will be showers, some widespread.