Good news: The weather is set to pick up this week

There won’t be a heatwave or anything, but it’s a start.

After a smashing start, the summer of 2016 has delivered pretty much what we’ve come to expect from Irish summers barring the odd exception in recent years. Heavy rain has been a familiar sight across the country of late, but according to Met Éireann, things look set to improve, albeit slightly, in the coming week. Monday is set to be gloomy, with widespread rain and heavy spells in northern parts of the country and a mixture of sunshine and showers in the south. In better news, Tuesday is set to be dry nationwide with only the odd shower here and there and temperatures in the high teens, from 15-18 degrees. Similar conditions will prevail on Wednesday, or at least until the evening, when the northwest will be hit with light rain and drizzle, with the breeze becoming quite strong in places. Thursday will be mild with patchy outbreaks of drizzle, although there will be warm, hazy sunshine in the midlands and in the east of the country, with temperatures reaching as high as 21 degrees. Nothing special for the next few days, then, but certainly an improvement on what we’ve experienced of late.