Kilkenny will be hotter than Rome and Athens this weekend: Met Éireann

KILKENNY and parts of Ireland will be hotter than Rome, Athens and Marseille this weekend as temperatures soar after the county endured two miserable rain-sodden days.

Met Éireann said the country will see unusually warm weather over the next couple of days, soaring to 5 degrees above the average for February.

And there’s even more sunshine on the way, with the forecast for early next week seeing some sizzling temperatures of 16 degrees.

Parts of Leinster, the Midlands and the West are expected to see the most sunshine today, with temperatures reaching between 13 and 15 degrees.

This compares favourably to Rome, where temperatures are set to reach 11 degrees tomorrow, and up to 13 degrees on Sunday, and Athens – where the mercury will rise to just 10 degrees over the weekend.

Kilkenny will be dry, but cloudy, with a few patches of light rain this morning. But temperatures will begin to rise from lunchtime onwards, according to the national forecaster.

Met Éireann’s Siobhan Ryan said: “You’ll see drier, brighter weather developing and it’ll be in the 12 to 15 degrees range by the afternoon after the day begins damp and drizzly, but that rain kind of clears away north eastwards or north westwards.

“So it’ll be spring-like into the afternoon even though the morning might begin a bit murky.

“The forecast for Saturday is a little cooler to begin with but temperatures will rise as the day progresses and it will be largely dry and sunny nationwide during the evening.”

The forecaster added: “Saturday it’ll be 11C to 14C and the western half of the country is most favoured for widespread heat of 13C.

“It’ll be 11C to 12C over the eastern half of the country because of a front is slow to clear there, but for the afternoon and evening should pick up and it should feel quite nice and be a pleasant end to the day.”

Ms Ryan said it is very unusual for us to have such mild, sunny weather at this time of year.

She added: “Generally speaking we kind of expect temperatures of around 9C, no more this time of year. So they are 4C to 5C above average.

“It’s very mild for this time of year and it’s spring-like weather.

“Our official spring begins the 1st of March and it’s more like temperatures you’d expect at the end of March or in early-April.”