There will be sunny spells and showers this weekend with heavy rain from Sunday onwards, Met Eireann says.

Met Eireann also has a potato blight warning in effect for the weekend.

Today (Friday) scattered showers or showery outbreaks of rain will continue to occur throughout the day but most of the time the weather will remain dry, it says.

However, there will be good sunny spells this morning (Friday) but cloud will generally increase in the afternoon, Met Eireann says.

There will be temperatures of 18 to 21 degrees, it says, in southerly breezes.

Tonight, the showers will become isolated in the evening and overnight will remain generally dry with lowest temperatures of 9 to 11 degrees.

Looking to the rest of the weekend, Met Eireann says that tomorrow (Saturday) there will be further sunny spells and showers.

Some of these showers, will be heavy and possibly thundery while highest temperatures of between 17 to 19 degrees are expected.

Sunday, Met Eireann says, will be a cloudy day with scattered outbreaks of showery rain.

Heavier rain will then develop along the east coast and across the northeast through the day; there will be highest temperatures of 15 to 18 degrees in light breezes.

Outlook for next week

According to Met Eireann on Monday, there will be further outbreaks of heavy rain across the north of the country, but most other parts will be generally dry.

It will remain rather cloudy with highs of 13 or 14 degrees in the north and 16 to 18 degrees elsewhere, it says.

On Tuesday rain will spread from the southwest to all parts of the country during the morning, Met Eireann says.

Showery weather will then develop through the afternoon /evening, it says and there will be further outbreaks of heavy rain overnight.

Wednesday, according to Met Eireann will have a mix of sunny spells and showers.