Met Éireann is predicting a fairly mild and humid few days ahead, but rain and drizzle will persist on most days, and skies will rarely be clear.

Today, Monday, July 13, will start off mostly cloudy and misty with patchy outbreaks of rain or drizzle, but it will be persistent or heavy in counties Cork, Kerry and Waterford. Rain and drizzle will clear eastwards by noon.

Bright or sunny spells and some scattered showers will follow this afternoon. Highest temperatures will be 15° to 19° with moderate westerly breezes.

Tonight will be dry, with clear spells and some patches of mist. Towards morning, rain will develop along the west coast. Lowest temperatures will be 9° to 11°.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, July 14, will start off dry in the east. Rain and drizzle in the west will spread eastwards through the morning, and continue for the rest of the day in Ulster, Leinster and Connacht.

However, much of south and southwest Munster will be mainly dry. Highest temperatures will be 13° to 17° with moderate westerly breezes.

Tuesday night will be mild and mostly cloudy with outbreaks of rain and drizzle, especially in Ulster and Leinster. Lowest temperatures will be 10° to 12°.

Wednesday, July 15, will be mild and mostly cloudy, with a fair amount of dry weather, but some patchy rain or drizzle also, especially in Ulster and east Leinster. There may be a few bright intervals in places.

Highest temperatures on Wednesday will be 15° to 20° with moderate westerly breezes. Wednesday night will be mild with some mist and drizzle, and lowest temperatures of 10° to 12°.

Thursday, July 16, will continue mild, humid and mostly cloudy. Many areas will be dry and there will be just a little patchy drizzle in places, mainly in western and northern parts of Connacht and Ulster.

The best of any bright or sunny intervals on Thursday will be in Munster and east Leinster. Highest temperatures will be 15° to 19° over the western half of the country, and reaching 21° or 22° in the east with moderate westerly breezes.

On Thursday night, rain will develop in the northwest.

Friday, July 17, will start off dry in Leinster and Munster. However, rain and drizzle in the northeast will spread across the country through the day, becoming light and patchy as it does so, with parts of the east and south staying dry.

Highest temperatures will be 15° to 21°, warmest in Leinster, with light southwest breezes.

Drying, spraying and soil

In Met Éireann’s latest farming forecast, issued yesterday afternoon, Sunday, July 12, the national forecaster outlines that drying conditions will deteriorate over the coming days. However, high pressure later in the week may provide more opportunities.

This also holds true for spraying conditions, with the south and east of the country likely to see the best opportunities.

Soil moisture deficits have reduced over much of the country, now at 7% to 24% generally, perhaps slightly higher in the southeast. Elsewhere, soils are generally saturated or near saturation. Little change in deficits is expected in the southeast in the next week.

In other parts, soil moisture deficits are expected to become marginally drier, away from the west and northwest.