Cooler today with showers

Rain, heavy in places, this morning will clear eastwards with clearer weather developing soon along the west coast steadily extending eastwards, bringing scattered heavy showers and cooler, fresher weather.

A strong and gusty southerly wind will veer westerly with the clearing rain and ease for a time in the morning, before increasing again before the afternoon, with gale force winds at the coasts. The latest weather forecast from Met Éireann says temperatures this afternoon will be between 7 and 9 degrees.

Frequent showers this evening and early tonight will die away by morning. Temperatures will fall slowly overnight and will be at their lowest after dawn on Thursday, reaching between 3 and 6 degrees. Strong northwesterly winds will ease overnight.

Tomorrow, Thursday, will start out cold and mostly dry and sunny with temperatures of between 5 and 7 degrees at best in the afternoon. The westerly wind will ease and fall light for a time, backing southwesterly later. Cloud will increase in the afternoon, bringing rain later.

A strengthening southerly wind accompanied by widespread rain and low cloudy on Thursday night will bring another change with temperatures rising through the night to between 9 and 11 degrees.

Temperatures will remain unchanged through Friday then with a light to moderate southwesterly wind. Rain will gradually break up from most places, although lingering for a time in the north and east, there'll be showers on coasts. Temperatures will remain unchanged through Friday night.

The milder conditions will break during Saturday afternoon as rain moves in a band from northwest to southeast, dropping temperatures back to between 7 and 9 by early Saturday evening when the rain will have finally cleared. There'll be showers following from the west and northwest. Winds will be mainly light to moderate southwesterly. Temperatures overnight on Saturday night will be between 3 and 5 degrees and winds will be mainly light to moderate southwest.

Sunday will be dry for a lot of the country although there'll be showers ongoing for the west and northwest. Southwesterly winds prevailing temperatures will be about normal for the time of year.

The unsettled picture continues in to the early days of next week with current indications suggesting fair weather for Monday with a spell of rain again on Tuesday.