There will be scattered showers interspersed with sunny spells over the coming weekend, with a drop in temperatures on the cards, according to Met Eireann

Today will be cool and blustery with showers becoming widespread this morning, some heavy or even of hail. There is a risk of isolated thunderstorms, mainly in parts of Ulster and north Leinster this afternoon, the national meteorological office reports.

The showers will become more isolated towards evening with better sunny spells developing. Top temperatures will peak at only 13° to 16° in fresh and gusty west to north-west winds.

Scattered showers will continue across parts of Ulster and Connacht overnight but it looks set to become largely dry elsewhere with good clear spells developing.

It will be chilly tonight with minimum temperatures of just 5° to 9° in moderate north-west breezes.

Drying will be mixed in the week ahead, but away from rain or showers, there will be good dry periods at times due to freshening winds overall.

Opportunities for spraying will be limited, but there will be some, especially in the south and east, Met Eireann says.

Regarding field conditions, soil moisture deficits remain high in central, eastern and southern areas – between 50mm and 70mm in places – causing continued restriction in growth.

Little change is expected in the coming week, but deficits should decrease to some extent.

However deficits are much lower over Connacht and west Ulster and in fact are approaching saturation in some parts of the northwest.

Tomorrow

Met Eireann forecasts a dry day in most areas tomorrow with a mix of cloud and sunny spells. However, there will be a few showers, with these largely confined to Ulster and north Connacht – but the odd shower will drift into north Leinster in the afternoon.

Cloud will thicken across the western half of the country tomorrow evening with rain reaching the west coast early in the night. Top temperatures of 15° to 18° are given for tomorrow in mostly light, variable winds.

A band of rain will sweep in from the Atlantic tomorrow night giving a spell of rain to all areas. Minimum temperatures will range from 9° to 12° in moderate to fresh southerly winds.

Sunday

Sunday will see a wet start across the country with outbreaks of rain. However, the rain is expected to clear quickly eastwards with the last of the rain clearing from the east coast around lunchtime, according to Met Eireann.

Bright spells and scattered blustery showers will follow as the rain eases with the best of any sunshine expected in eastern counties during the evening.

Highest temperatures of between 16° and 20° are expected, with the best values in the east of the country.

Clear spells and scattered showers are forecast on Sunday night with the showers most frequent in Ulster and Connacht.