Crazy weather set to take another turn ahead of bank holiday weekend

AFTER the glorious Easter bank holiday weekend came Storm Hannah, wreaking havoc across the south and west of the country.

Kilkenny escaped the brunt of the storm, but overall it was largely a weekend to forget as far as the weather was concerned.

And now Met Éireann has forecast another dramatic change in conditions, albeit thankfully for the better, for the coming May holiday weekend.

The national forecaster says temperatures could rise to as high as 19C next weekend. It has forecast “a good deal of dry weather” from Friday onwards as the country looks forward to another long weekend.

The week ahead looks set to be a mixed bag, just days after several weather alerts – including two red alert warnings – were in place across Ireland for Storm Hannah’s 122kph gusts.

But the weekend ahead looks set to be a different story. Met Éireann said: “A good deal of dry weather with temperatures ranging from 15C to 19C.”

Local weather guru, Alan O’Reilly of Carlow Weather, warned it’s still to early to predict for sure how next weekend will play out.

He said: “Looking at the weather trends and after some heavy rain Monday night into Tuesday morning it should settle down for a few days with temps around normal – highs of around 12C to 14C. Hard to call next bank holiday weekend yet, high pressure tries to build but may not win out.”

Today will be mainly dry in Kilkenny and throughout Leinster, with some showers and temperature potentially reaching as high as 17C.

Tomorrow will see heavier bursts of rain, with showers expected to pummel the east of the country all day.

Met Éireann said: “Monday will be mainly dry with a fair amount of cloud and some sunny intervals. A few showers will develop through the day.

“Highest temperatures of 11C to 14C in eastern and southern counties, but reaching 15C to 17C elsewhere moderate south to southeast breezes.

“A wet start to Tuesday morning with occasional heavier bursts of rain.”