Met Éireann is predicting heavy rain and possible flooding today, Friday, August 30, but rain will clear early on Saturday, with sunny spells and scattered showers expected over the weekend and into next week.

There will be rain through much of the west and north of the country throughout today, which will be persistent and heavy at times.

The east and south will be drier, with just a few outbreaks of rain. Highest temperatures today are expected to be 16° to 20°, with the best of this in the south-east, in gusty or south-west winds.

Met Éireann has issued a Status Yellow rainfall warning for all of Connacht, along with counties Donegal, Clare, Cork, Kerry and Limerick. The warning is valid from 6:00am this morning to 6:00am tomorrow, Saturday, August 31.

Looking at tonight, heavy rain will continue for a time in all areas. As morning approaches it will become drier from the west. Lowest temperatures will be 10° to 12°, in moderate to fresh southerly winds, which will turn westerly by morning.

Saturday will be brighter, with a mixture of sunshine and showers. Highest temperatures will be 16° to 18° in moderate or occasionally fresh westerly breezes.

Showers will become confined to Atlantic areas overnight on Saturday, with lowest temperatures of 8° to 10° in moderate westerly breezes, which will be strong at times on western coasts.

Sunday, September 1, will be fresh and cool, with sunny spells and scattered showers, some of which will be heavy, particularly in the west and north-west.

Highest temperatures on Sunday will be 14° to 17°, with moderate to fresh west to north-west winds.

Looking at next week, there will be occasional outbreaks of rain in the first few days, but overall there will be a good deal of dry weather. Temperature values will be around normal for early September.

Conditions for drying will be mostly poor at first but will improve by the weekend, while opportunities for spraying will also improve to some degree.

Soil moisture deficits are around 10mm to 20mm in Leinster and south Munster, but will be lower elsewhere. Some poorly drained soils are saturated or waterlogged in the west and north.