Country split down middle with sun on east coast but rain and thunder in west
WHILE the west of the country braces itself for torrential rain and thunderstorms, the east basks in sunshine.
Forecasters say the Irish heatwave will continue this weekend – but only on one side of the island.
Yesterday, it was a tale of two halves of the country – with one side experiencing uninterrupted glorious sunshine and the other battening down the hatches.
In Dublin and other eastern counties, temperatures had reached 24C. But elsewhere, in more western areas, flood warnings were being issued.
Drivers were being warned to slow down because of dangerous road conditions.
Some 15 counties were issued with orange weather warnings with thunder and lightning in some parts.
Roscommon was particularly drenched with downpours, as thunderstorms hit the county yesterday evening, with around 25mm of rain recorded.
Temperatures also dropped from 25C to 16C in the county, Met Éireann reported.
Limerick was another county to take a battering from the rain, with thunder and lightning also being experienced in some areas of the county.
AA Roadwatch reported incidents of flooding in Tipperary, particularly in Roscrea.
The wet weather will continue in parts of the country today – mainly the midlands – but is expected to be less extreme than what was experienced in the likes of Limerick, Clare, Galway and Cavan last night.
With big GAA matches taking place in Meath, Kilkenny, Tipperary and Dublin over the weekend, weather is expected to remain mainly dry in these places, but for a few scattered showers.
Met Éireann meteorologist John Eagleton said last night’s weather in the west was causing havoc.
He said he expected the wet weather to travel further east today and said the downpours at these times would be particularly heavy.
“It’ll still be very good on the east coast,” he said.
Thankfully the weather will improve over the course of the weekend.
“I think Sunday there’ll be the odd shower, it won’t be as widespread,” Mr Eagleton said.
Warm
“The activity will decrease over the weekend,” he added.
However, he said warm conditions would carry on into next week.
“Next week temperatures are good still, it won’t be the highs that we got this week, but still around 20C for most of the days.
“Some of the days might get to 21C or 22C,” he said.
Rainy conditions are not anticipated to hit the country until late next week, and even at that are set to be mild, the forecaster predicted.
However, there may be some localised downpours later in the evening.