Great news, this weekend is going to be an absolute scorcher

26 degree temperatures? Yes please...

OK, we're first going to tell you about the weather for this weekend because it's a lot more uplifting than the forecast for the next couple of days. On Saturday, high pressure from the south will become dominant and this will bring with it dry and warm weather. According to Met Éireann, Saturday will be a warm, bright and dry day with sunny spells developing in most areas. Highest temperatures of 19 to 24 degrees with light southwest breezes. Then we go onto Sunday, which looks set to be the best day of the week. Sunday will dry and will be even warmer with temperatures ranging from 20 to 26 degrees. Yes, you read that correctly. 26 degrees... But unfortunately, it's not going to be quite that nice for the next couple of days. It will be rather cloudy on Wednesday but dry in many parts for much of the day, with some sunny breaks for a time in the east. However scattered outbreaks of rain will affect western and southern counties and the rain will become more persistent in western areas later in the afternoon and evening. Thursday will be a mix of dry spells with showers, but some of these showers will be heavy, especially in the northern half of the country. But these showers will die out later in the day with highest temperatures of 15-18 degrees. Friday will see a return to mostly cloudy, damp and humid weather with patchy outbreaks of rain and drizzle in many areas, especially further north. The best of any bright intervals will be in the south with temperatures of 16-20 degrees.