Normal rain will resume this weekend

A rainy week is expected to ease fears of drought in some farming areas.

Sources in Met Eireann said this week the ground needs at least 50mm of rain to restore moisture levels to normal, but the trend is for the dry spell to break down, with rain developing across the country over the coming weekend and next week.

Soil moisture deficit monitoring indicated that east Leinster and east Ulster are most affected by dry weather, with SMDs of over 50mm.

Soil moisture deficit (SMD) is the amount of water needed to bring the soil moisture content back to the maximum amount of water the soil can hold. An SMD of over 60 mm is classified as “dry” soil.

The SMD at the start of this week remained under 40mm in most of west Cork and Kerry, and in Donegal, but varied from 40 to 49mm elsewhere, and was higher in the north east.

SMDs across the country are between 20 and 43mm higher than normal for early May, according to Met Eireann, which also confirmed there had been no rain over the country for more than a week.

But a change to more unsettled weather is forecast to start today, bringing some rain for all parts over the weekend, with 20-30mm expected in many parts. Some parts of coastal Cork and Kerry could well see as much as double or three times the amount of rain for the time of year, according to Met Eireann on Tuesday.

The exceptionally dry conditions of April, 2017, copperfastened the statistics which show it is the driest month generally across Ireland (although June is the driest month in many southern areas).