As many farmers continue to deal with the impact of the dry weather, the latest forecast is showing little change for drought-hit areas.

According to Met Éireann, most of the country will see less than average amounts of rainfall over the coming seven days.

However, the north and north-west of the country may see up to twice as much as average.

Weather

Ailís Hankinson, operational meteorologist with Met Éireann, told Agriland there will be some showers in parts today (Thursday, August 13).

"We'll see a fairly dry weekend after some showers today, there's a bit of rain around then on Monday, a little bit of uncertainty in the timing and the intensity of that rain.

"The current indications are for some showers then as we head into next week.

"It's likely that the south and east will see a bit of rain, but it won't be enough to change the soil moisture deficits significantly," she said.

Drought

Most soils away from the north-west are experiencing a restriction to growth which is leading to many farmers feeding additional fodder to animals.

Soil moisture deficits are ranging from 71 to 97mm in the south and east where they are in near-drought or drought conditions.

In contrast, soils in the north-west are saturated with values there of -3 to 8mm.

"We've had the majority of the rainfall coming in from the west and north-west so locations there will see most of the rainfall, while its inclined to fizzle out as it heads further towards the east and the south," Hankenson said.

As most rainfall is expected in the northwest over the next week, soil moisture deficits there are likely to decrease further with a chance of some soils becoming waterlogged.

Elsewhere, values are not forecast to change much with near-drought or drought conditions persisting in the southeast.

Met Éireann

The latest forecast comes as most weather stations recorded less than half their average amount of rainfall in the past seven days.

Cork Airport and Roches Point, Co. Cork, and Oak Park, Co. Carlow recorded no rainfall in the period.

The highest accumulation of 18.1mm was reported at Belmullet, Co. Mayo, which is 82% of average.

Althought temperatures will be above average across the country today, Met Éireann said values will return close to average from Friday away from the south-east.

Mean air temperatures are forecast to range from 14° to 18°C over the coming week.

Temperatures in the west will be close to average, but in the south and east they will be up to 2° above average.

When asked about the longer term outlook for the rest of the month, Hankenson said: "While there's a lot of uncertainty and confidence is quite low there's a signal for the majority of the rainfall to stay in the northern parts while southern areas will remain drier, but of course that can all change", so something to keep an eye on".