The weekend weather forecast indicates some dry, cool and settled conditions ahead.

According to Met Éireann, showery outbreaks of rain, with some wintry falls on high ground, will continue to push south over Ireland this morning, Friday, March 14.

Brighter weather with sunshine and just isolated showers will follow from the north for the rest of the day with highest temperatures of 6°C to 9° in moderate to fresh north-east winds.

It will be cold tonight with clear spells and just patchy cloud. There will be a widespread frost along with some icy patches. However, some coastal areas will remain frost-free.

Lowest temperatures will range from -3° and +3° in light and variable winds with a few mist or fog patches forming.

Looking further into the weekend weather forecast, it was a cold, frosty and sunny start on Saturday with any mist or fog patches clearing.

It will turn somewhat cloudier during the afternoon and the odd light shower cannot be ruled out with highest temperatures of 6° to 9° in light northeast or variable winds.

Saturday night will be generally dry overnight with a mix of clear spells and cloud. Where skies clear, there is the chance of some frost developing and lowest temperatures of -1° to +4° in light northerly or variable winds can be expected.

Sunday will be another mostly dry day weather-wise with a mix of cloud and spells of sunshine. The best of the sunshine is likely in the east and northeast of the country.

Highest temperatures will range from 7° to 10° in light northeast to east winds.

It will stay mainly dry on Sunday night with variable amounts of cloud. A few light showers may drift on to some eastern and southern coasts.

Lowest temperatures of between 0 and +4° can be expected generally but it may be less cold on eastern and southern coasts.Monday, St. Patrick's Day, will bring a few light showers but it will remain dry in most areas.

There will be more in the way of cloud than in preceding days with only occasional sunny spells.

Highest temperatures of 7° to 10° are forecast but it will feel a little colder in a rather brisk easterly wind.

It will be largely dry on Monday night apart from the chance of a few showers near the south coast. Lowest temperatures will range from 1° to 5° in moderate to fresh east or southeast winds.It looks like it will be a breezy day on Tuesday but with good spells of sunshine expected. Highest temperatures of 7° to 11° are forecast in fresh east to southeast winds.

In terms of the weather for farming, drying conditions will be moderate over the coming week as there will be plenty of dry weather but temperatures will be on the cool side and winds will generally be light or moderate.

There will be some good opportunities for spraying over the coming days away from any showers.

In terms of field conditions, most soils have soil moisture deficits (SMDs) of 4mm to 12mm.

Over the next seven days, there will be some improvements in soil conditions with plenty of dry weather expected.

Moderately and well drained soils will likely have SMDs of 7mm to 15mm with light and medium soils becoming trafficable.