Never has the phrase “warm and mainly dry with sunny spells” sounded so good.

Even by Ireland’s standards, the weather in 2018 so far has been particularly miserable and, quite frankly, we could all use a break from it. Thankfully, and not before time, a long overdue spell of pleasant weather is set to arrive in the coming days, with Met Éireann forecasting temperatures of up to 18 degrees and as many as FIVE CONSECUTIVE DAYS when warm and mainly dry weather will prevail in most of the country. As is so often the case in Ireland, it will get worse before it gets better, with a risk of localised flooding in many areas on Monday following a wet and windy day with heavy rain in many areas. Tuesday will be warmer, with highest temperatures of 16 degrees, but it will still be wet, with persistent showers throughout the day, many of them heavy, in most of the country. It is on Wednesday when we’ll start to get the good stuff, with the east of the country benefitting most from warm and mainly dry conditions and temperatures as high as 17 degrees. On Thursday, that pleasant weather will begin to spread to the rest of Ireland and although there will be a risk of showers in coastal areas in the west, conditions are again forecast to be warm and mainly dry, with temperatures reaching highs of 18 degrees. The early signs for next weekend are promising, with Met Éireann predicting that conditions will be largely dry with sunny spells and light winds from Friday right through until Sunday. The midlands will get the best of the weather next weekend, with daytime temperatures hitting highs of 17 degrees. It’s not quite weather that will have us all rushing to the beach or anything, but we’ll take it.