Good day, sunshine – just don’t forget to bring your brollies
SPRING may have sprung but winter-weary Irish householders were warned to keep their umbrellas and raincoats to hand.
Temperatures are set to gradually increase over the next week rising to a high of 16C.
But while Ireland will have spells of bright sunshine, there will also be almost daily showers.
Met Éireann warned showers are now likely almost every day from today until next Saturday, some of which could prove quite heavy.
However, from Thursday there will be a noticeable increase in the duration of sunny spells – with next weekend set to prove exceptionally mild.
“It will remain typical weather for this time of year – a mixture of sunshine, showers and occasionally cold winds,” a spokesperson said. Maximum temperatures will be around 15C to 16C.
However, the bad news for farmers is that the showers, some of which will be quite heavy, won’t help hasten the return of livestock to already water-logged fields.
Farm groups warned that even if conditions dried dramatically this week, it would be at least a fortnight before livestock could be returned to fields.
The Government is now subsidising the transport cost for the importation of fodder from the UK after what one farmer, Dan Bourke, described as one of the longest and most challenging winters for years.
“I ran out of fodder on Thursday – I have no choice now but to buy fodder and it is costing me around €100 a day to feed my cattle,” the Cork dairy farmer said.
The torrential rainfall over the past four days has also left thousands of acres of farmland in Munster under water.
Major rivers including the Blackwater, Lee, Funcheon and Suir have broken their banks and left riverside meadows for several kilometres under flood waters.
River levels are so high that flood barriers remain in place in towns including Fermoy and Mallow.
Gardaí have warned people not to attempt to drive into flood waters of unknown depth.