A Met Éireann yellow warning for potato blight has been issued for several counties today (Friday, August 16).
The warning comes into place from today and is expected to remain in place until 9:00a.m on Tuesday (August 20), according to Met Éireann.
Conditions conducive to the spread of potato blight are expected on Monday, August 19 and on into Tuesday in the south, west and northwest.
The impacted counties include: Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Leitrim, Laois, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford, and Wicklow.
There will be good opportunities for spraying today and at the weekend, with plenty of dry weather and generally light to moderate winds, according to the national forecaster.
This will change on into next week, when conditions are forecasted to become unsettled.
Rainfall amounts will be above normal nearly everywhere and it will be very wet in the north and west, with three or four times the average forecast for some areas.
There will be quite cloudy conditions over the weekend, followed by unsettled weather next week, so sunshine is likely to be below normal over the next seven days.
Soil moisture deficits are generally between +20 and +70mm, however soils are saturated or waterlogged in parts of the west and northwest with some restrictions to growth.
With unsettled weather forecast for next week, soil conditions will deteriorate and more soils across the west, northwest, midlands and far southwest will become saturated or waterlogged.
Air temperatures over the past week were above average, between 14°C to 16°C. This is set to drop slightly in the coming week.
Soil temperatures are currently above normal, between 14.9°C and 19.4°C.