The weekend weather forecast looks set to bring dry conditions in the short-term with milder temperatures, according to latest indications.
It will be mostly cloudy today (Friday, December 13), but some limited bright or sunny spells are likely. It will be dry in most areas for much of the day, with just a few spots of drizzle here and there.
Later in the day, some light rain and drizzle will move into the north-west and west. It will be cool with highest temperatures of 4° to 8°C in mostly light westerly or variable breezes, increasing moderate north-westerly later in coastal parts of the west and north-west.
Met Éireann has said that it will be largely cloudy for a time tonight with a little patchy light rain and drizzle along with some mist and isolated fog.
It will become clearer from the north-west though overnight, with a few isolated showers following, mainly into the north and west.
Lowest temperatures will range from -1° to +3° with some frost, with winds becoming mostly light to moderate westerly, a little fresher in northern coastal parts.
Weekend weather
Tomorrow, Saturday, will be mainly dry and bright for a time, with good spells of sunshine. There will be a few scattered showers around, mainly in coastal parts of the north and west.
It will become increasingly cloudy though from the north-west through the day, with some light rain and drizzle moving into the north-west and west later in the afternoon and spreading south-eastwards through the evening.
Highest temperatures of 5° are expected in the east and up to 10° in the west in light to moderate west to south-westerly breezes, freshening later in coastal parts of the north-west and west.
Saturday night will be cloudy with a little rain and drizzle spreading from the north-west, along with some mist and hill fog. Lowest temperatures will range from 4° to 9° in mostly moderate, occasionally fresh west to south-west winds.
Sunday will be a mostly cloudy day with some patchy outbreaks of light rain and drizzle, along with some mist. There will be a good deal of dry weather too.
It is expected to be a little milder and breezier than of late with highest temperatures of 10° to 12° in moderate to fresh and occasionally gusty south-west to west winds, strong at times in some northern and western coastal parts.
Sunday night will be mostly cloudy for a time with a little patchy light rain and drizzle here and there, though some clear spells will gradually develop.
It will be relatively mild with lowest temperatures of 7° to 11° in moderate to fresh south-west to west winds, a little stronger still in coastal parts of the north and west.
Outlook next week
Monday will continue fairly breezy and it will be a little brighter with a mix of cloud and some sunny spells. While there will be a lot of dry weather, there will be some scattered patches of light rain and drizzle though especially in the north and west.
It will be relatively mild with highest temperatures of 9° to 11° in moderate to fresh south-west winds.
Monday night will be cloudy with a little patchy light rain and drizzle. Lowest temperatures of 7° to 11° with winds becoming mostly moderate southerly, fresher though in coastal parts of the west and south-west.
Tuesday will be a rather windy, cloudy day with a good deal of dry weather for a time. There will be some patches of light rain and drizzle, which will eventually give way to more persistent rain moving up from the south-west later in the day or overnight, some of it heavy.
It will be very mild with highest temperatures of 12° to 14° in fresh to strong and gusty southerly winds.
There will be some further spells of wet and windy or possibly very windy weather on Wednesday and Wednesday night. The rain will be heavy at times in places, leading to some localised flooding, with heavy showers to follow, some thundery.
Highest temperatures of 12° to 14° with strong cyclonic winds, likely to reach gale force at times especially in some coastal parts.
It will continue windy on Thursday but it looks like it will have turned colder and brighter with a mix of sunshine and showers, some heavy and thundery and of hail.
Highest temperatures of 6° to 9° are expected in strong and gusty west to north-west winds, reaching gale force and gusty in western coastal parts.
In terms of the longer term, at this stage it looks like our weather will be changeable and mixed over the following days.
It will be windy at times with some rain or showers, but some drier brighter interludes too. Temperatures will fluctuate a little too, but generally will be close to average, according to Met Éireann.