IT’S OFFICIALLY ST Swithin’s Day.

The more superstitious among us will probably be looking out the window checking the weather, with the old belief that if it rains today, we can expect rain for the next 40 days.

The day is named after an English saint, whose body was supposedly moved from an outdoor to an indoor grave, leading to rain falling on the cathedral where he was buried for 40 days.

The good news is that although there’s expected to be some patches of drizzle this morning, long dry spells are expected to develop as the day progresses.

Warm and sunny spells will even develop in the south and south east of the country, with highest temperatures of 16 to 19 degrees generally but reaching 20 or 21 degrees in parts.

Tonight will be mild and humid with mostly dry conditions, although there will be some patchy rain and drizzle in Atlantic coastal counties at times. Minimum temperatures will be between 12 and 15 degrees Celsius.

Tomorrow is expected to start mostly cloudy, with more patchy drizzle across the country. Warm sunshine will develop in the east and south of the country in the afternoon, however.

Top temperatures on Thursday will be between 16 and 20 degrees generally, but up to 22 degrees in the east and south.

In the longer-term, Met Éireann in forecasting a possible return of high pressure close to Ireland next week, which should bring dry weather. However, it’s also expected that cloudy conditions could also prevail at times, and a few showers are likely.