Weekend outlook mixed after wet and dull April

It’s not going to be a scorcher but rain looks like it will hold off for the bank holiday weekend.

The weather outlook for Saturday and Sunday is mixed with dry and sunny weather for the most part but cloudy skies and bursts of rain also expected.

The worst of the rain will come in from the Atlantic with counties in the West to be worst hit.

“Bright or sunny spells” are forecast for Saturday with temperatures of up to 16C expected in places and “light to moderate southerly breezes”, according to Met Éireann meteorologists.

Sunday will be misty and cloudy in the western half of the country but much brighter and drier in the eastern half with some sunny spells.

Winds will gather pace on Monday but it will remain dry until late into the day, according to Met Éireann.

More unsettled weather will return later in the week but it will be dry for the most part.

Meanwhile, monthly weather statistics from Met Éireann show that last month was the wettest April in five years in Cork but rainfall was below average for April in the rest of the country.

Cork also experienced the dullest April with the least sunshine in the country throughout the month, making it the county’s most sunshine-deprived April in 18 years.

Weather stations in the north-west and south-west reported their driest April in six or seven years with the highest rainfall at the beginning and end of the month.

Sherkin Island, off the Cork coast, recorded 25mm of rain on April 25, its wettest day in 11 years.

Temperatures were higher than average last month too with the highest temperatures on Monday and Tuesday of this week.

In Newport, Co Mayo, temperatures reached an unseasonably high 20.4C last Monday — its highest April temperature in 11 years.