A SHEET OF heavy rain is being forecast to cover most of the country from this afternoon with further spells tomorrow before a brighter weekend.

Met Éireann’s rainfall forecast for the day shows pockets of rain in the east and south to begin this morning with more widespread rain coming in from the Atlantic.

This persistent rain is expected to spread to many areas but parts of ulster may escape the rain and remain dry. 

It follows an exceptionally wet day yesterday when 11.5 mm of rain was recorded at Dublin Airport, ten times more than the average of 1.4 mm for a July day over the last few years. 

Up to yesterday, 32.2 mm of rain has been recorded at Dublin Airport in the first week of the month compared to 41 mm for the entirety of last July. 

The average July rainfall for the entire month has been 56.2 mm over a 30-year period. 

For the next few days, patchy rain is been forecast across Munster and Leinster with Connacht and Ulster remaining dry but for a few shows. 

Friday will see bright spells and scattered showers before a mainly dry day on Saturday. 

Highest temperatures for Saturday ranging between 16 and 20 degrees