The second day (Wednesday) of this year’s National Ploughing Championships will start off with bright and sunny spells in the morning, according to Met Eireann.

At present the ground conditions are wet and boots are a must.

Overall the day will be mostly cloudy with scattered outbreaks of rain, with temperatures reaching 15 to 17 degrees.

These sunny spells will soon disappear in the afternoon as a cold front moves across Ireland, bringing persistent rain for a time in the evening.

This cloud and rain will then clear away to drier, fresher and cooler conditions, says Met Eireann.

However, the weather this week will be changeable, with showers and sunny periods.

Current indications from Met Eireann suggest that the weather for the remainder of the Ploughing will be unsettled.

There will be heavy showers overnight on Wednesday especially in the west of the country, Met Eireann says.

Looking to Ploughing Day 3 , thursday will be a cool and blustery day with heavy showers of rain and hail, it says and there will be highest temperatures of 12 to 15 degrees in strong westerly winds.

However, Met Eireann says much of South Leinster will be dry with just a few passing showers.

According to Met Eireann, Friday will be a mainly dry day, with a mixture of cloudy and sunny spells. Temperatures will reach 13 to 16 degrees with just a slight possibility of drizzle.

The outlook for the weekend is that there will be a good deal of dry weather with temperatures improving to around 14 or 17 degrees.

However, it says there will be patchy rain at times near western coastal counties.