WEATHER THIS WEEKEND will be rather rainy as Met Éireann predicts consistent downpours in most parts, but next week could provide a welcome reprieve.

The national forecaster says that the weekend will be characterised by some heavy thundery rainfall with brief sunny intervals before returning to wetter conditions.

According to its weather models, tomorrow will start off rather dreary with cloud and long spells of rain predominating before temporarily giving way to sunny respite.

However, Saturday afternoon and evening will become wet once more as thundery downpours are set to hit several parts of the country, with daytime temperatures ranging from 14 to 18 degrees.

Saturday night will be clear for a time before rain returns in the for of scattered showers moving eastwards.

Sunday will also be cloudy with the promise of sunnier spells later in the day, though some scattered showers will be prevalent from the west during the morning and afternoon.

Temperatures will fall between 15 and 18 degrees earlier on, and will hit their lowest at 8 degrees in the night, coolest in the south.

But it is not all bad news on the weather front, particularly with next week in mind.

Met Éireann says that Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of next week will be “slightly drier than normal” with only isolated rainfall in parts as high pressure builds.

It added that temperatures will “trend slightly above the seasonal norm”, though this may apply mostly to the eastern half of the country.