Goodbye to the sunshine ... for now

SEARING heat may be scorching our European brethren but we can expect a wet week ahead.

Forecasters have warned that raincoats and umbrellas should be at the ready as rainfall is expected to intensify.

The sunny bank holiday reprieve from the recent dull spell is to dissipate from today as Met Éireann says rainclouds loom on the horizon.

While today will be bright for a time, there will be ‘the odd shower’ and it will be a bit cooler than yesterday, said one forecaster.

‘It continues to get much fresher on Wednesday and I think the shower activity increases as well,’ the forecaster told the Irish Daily Mail.

The rain will be welcomed by farmers and Irish Water after reservoir levels plummeted following last month’s heatwave, leading to water restrictions and low crop yields.

Tonight showers from the west will make their way across the country.

Tomorrow will be much the same, with a cool and fresh start to the day followed by sunny spells and scattered showers. However, some of the showers tomorrow could turn heavy as the rain begins to intensify.

Thursday will see weather conditions deteriorate in earnest.

Showery weather conditions will persist across much of the day with a chance of it turning heavy and possibly thundery. On Thursday night it will become cloudier again and heavy rainfall is expected on Friday morning. This is forecast to spread across the country over the course of the day and the downpours are expected to persist into Saturday.

However, every cloud has a silver lining – and the forecaster said temperatures are expected to pick up again in the middle of next week.