Ireland weather: Met Éireann says 29C heat returns this week

Ireland weather forecast for the week ahead

Monday itself starts dry, with early mist and fog clearing to a mix of cloud and sunny spells and highs of 17C to 23C, warmest in the south.

After a mild night with lows of 9C to 14C, the mercury is set to climb to 27C on Tuesday and 28C on Wednesday, though the west and northwest will be cloudier with some outbreaks of rain.

Thursday is expected to be the hottest day of the week, with sunny spells, scattered showers and highs of 29C.

Forecasters said the coming days would be warm or hot and humid, with the risk of showers at times and mild, muggy nights not falling below 15C to 18C.

Alan O'Reilly of Carlow Weather said: "Good sunny spells Monday afternoon for many but the West could be frustrated by the cloud on Tuesday."

Sunseekers have already been making the most of it on beaches like Portmarnock and in Dublin parks such as St Stephen's Green.

It caps a largely fine spell that stretched back to the August bank holiday forecast.

Full details of the warm snap were reported by the Irish Mirror.