Met Éireann has issued an advisory for potato blight.

Weather conditions conducive to the spread of potato blight will occur from Saturday evening at 6:00p.m (August 8) until midday on Sunday.

Affected regions are: Cavan; Clare; Cork; Donegal; Galway; Kerry; Leitrim; Limerick; Mayo; Monaghan; Roscommon; and Sligo.

Met Éireann said there will be opportunities for spraying today (Thursday, August 6), and tomorrow. Outbreaks of rain are expected to limit opportunities over the weekend.

Drying conditions will be moderate to good today and tomorrow, becoming poor in outbreaks of rain over the weekend.

Soil moisture

Soils are driest in the south and east with soil moisture deficits ranging from 62mm to 93mm leading to near drought or drought conditions.

Soil moisture deficits are lowest in the north-west ranging from -8mm to 2mm where all soil types are close to saturation.

Elsewhere, soil moisture deficits range from 25mm to 58mm with restriction to growth.

Though there will be some rain and showers over the coming week, rainfall amounts are forecast to be below average which will result in little change to soil moisture deficits with some areas seeing a slight increase.

Over the past week, rainfall amounts were above average across the country, with the exception of stations in the south-east. 

Most stations saw between 114% and 180% of their average rainfall accumulation for this time of year, while Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, saw the most rainfall at 56.2mm, which was 313% of average.

Over the past week, mean air temperatures have generally been within a degree of average for much of the country.