There is a cold weekend in store with frosty nights, however dry weather is on the way from Monday, according to Met Eireann.

There will be a generally dry start to today, Friday, with some bright or sunny breaks.

However, Met Eireann has forecast for winds to freshen and cloud to build, as outbreaks of rain gradually push down from the north.

The rain may turn persistent along the east coast from mid-afternoon and into the early evening and it may possibly stay dry in the south of the country until early evening.

Current indications suggest a clearance to sunshine and a few light showers developing in the west and north later.

Today is promised to be a rather cool fresh day, with highest values of between 7 and 11 degrees Celsius.

Met Eireann has said that it is likely to be much drier everywhere in the coming days, with many parts of the country accumulating less than 20% of normal rainfall for mid-April.

Tonight is forecast to be cold with clear periods and many places will be dry but there will be scattered showers in northern and eastern coastal counties, some wintry on higher ground.

Temperatures will fall to zero or below in places tonight and Met Eireann has said that there will be a sharp frost in many areas.

Tomorrow, Saturday, will be a cold and bright day in moderate northerly winds.

Good sunshine is forecast in many areas at first, but scattered mainly rain and hail showers are likely to develop during the day, sunny spells will continue also.

Afternoon highs will range between 7 and 9 degrees tomorrow. It will be a cold and frosty tonight with temperatures falling to between 0 and minus 2 degrees in many areas.

Current indications from Met Eireann suggest that Sunday will be a cold day but a lot of areas will be dry with good sunny periods and just well scattered showers in the afternoon. Again, temperatures will range between 10 or 11 degrees.

Frost is forecast for Sunday night especially in midland and southern areas, it will be cloudier in northern parts.

Dry, bright weather forecast for next week – Met Eireann

For next week, the latest weather charts suggest that there will be a lot of dry bright weather during the early days of next week.

The next few days are likely to be sunnier than average, which Met Eireann says is thanks to area of high pressure settling west of Ireland later this weekend.

However, looks likely that it will be cloudier in the north and northwest on Monday with some showery rain for a time but dry periods here also.

According to Met Eireann there will be the odd shower on Tuesday and Wednesday but generally dry and bright.

Furthermore, it suggests that temperatures will recover towards normal values by Wednesday.