Weekend weather: Unsettled with rain and sunny spells

The weekend weather forecast looks like it contains a mixed bag in terms of rainfall and sunny spells, with the heavy rain clearing to brighter weather as the Easter weekend progresses.

Status Yellow weather warnings for rain remain in place for certain counties until tomorrow (Sat) morning.

The rain warning is in place for: Carlow; Dublin; Kilkenny; Louth; Wexford; Wicklow; Waterford, until 6:00a.m tomorrow Saturday.

The Status Yellow warning for rain is also in place for Cork and Kerry until midday today (Friday, April 18), while the rain warning for Clare, Galway, Mayo remains in place until 9:00p.m today.

Met Éireann has forecast that today (Friday, April 18) will be a wet and breezy day as widespread showery rain continues.

The rain will be heavy at times and may cause localised flooding. Highest temperatures of 8° to 12°C with moderate to fresh easterly winds, strong at times near the west coast.

Tonight will be wet with showery rain persisting. Lowest temperatures of 6° to 10° can be expected, coolest in the north-west, in light to moderate north-west winds.

It will be a dull and damp start to the day tomorrow, Saturday, as the rain continues.

As we go through the morning the rain will become lighter and patchy as it begins to clear north-westwards.

Drier conditions will develop for most areas through the day, although it will remain quite cloudy. Highest temperatures will range from 8° to 13° in light to moderate easterly winds.

It is expected to be mostly dry on Saturday night, apart from light outbreaks of rain and drizzle in the west that will slowly clear eastwards.

Clearer spells will follow into the west overnight. Lowest temperatures will range from 6° to 9° with light south-easterly winds veering west to south-west following the clearance of the rain.

According to Met Éireann, there is some uncertainty in the forecast for Easter Sunday, but current indications suggest outbreaks of light rain will clear eastwards in the morning followed by occasional sunny spells and some well scattered showers.

Cloudy conditions look to build from the west in the afternoon with rain following. Highest temperatures of 11° to 15° are expected in a light to moderate southerly breeze.

Rain will move eastwards across the country on Sunday night, followed by showers and clear spells and lowest temperatures of 5° to 9° a light south-west wind.

Rain will clear from the north-east on Easter Monday morning and will be followed by sunny spells and showers. Highest temperatures of 11° to 14° are forecast in a light to moderate south-west wind.

On Monday night it will become largely dry as showers become mainly confined to Atlantic coasts. Lowest temperatures will range from 4° to 7°, in light southerly breeze.

Tuesday will bring a mix of sunshine and showers spreading from the Atlantic. Highest temperatures of 11° to 13° in light westerly breeze.

Drying conditions are expected to deteriorate countrywide over the coming days but they will improve a bit in parts on Easter Sunday.

The early days of next week won't have much drying either though conditions may improve a bit mid-week.

Opportunities will be very limited, but some opportunities will occur on Sunday, and then on Wednesday next.

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All soils are trafficable at the moment, with soil moisture deficits (SMDs) ranging from 5mm to 41mm with the lowest values in the south-east.

SMDs will decrease significantly this week, as there will be some heavy rain at times, but most well drained soils will remain trafficable.

Poorly drained soils are likely to become saturated or waterlogged in some eastern, south-western, northern and western counties.

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