Weekend temperatures forecast to reach 25C in Ireland

Temperatures in Ireland could reach 25C over the weekend.

Met Eireann’s forecasts show temperatures at Dublin Airport reaching that high on Sunday lunchtime.

While some heavy showers are expected on Friday evening, they will die out overnight making way for good weather over the weekend, Ireland’s meteorological service said.

Saturday is expected to be a dry day with the highest temperatures around the country reaching 17C to 23C.

Leinster is due to see the warmest weather with lower temperatures near western and south-west coasts.

Temperatures will continue to rise throughout the rest of the weekend with “warm or very warm conditions”, Met Eireann said, with the UV index at a “moderate to high” level across the country.

The highest temperatures around most of the country are expected to be between 18C and 22C.

High pressure means the good weather is likely to continue into next week.

Last year, the average temperature for May was 12.54C, making it the sixth hottest on record.

Water Safety Ireland has warned “warm air doesn’t mean warm water”.

Deputy chief executive Roger Sweeney said the majority of people “haven’t dipped a toe in the water so far this year” and “may underestimate the risk”.

The warm weather coincides with National Water Safety Week and Mr Sweeney said many people have come from “a winter of warm leisure centre pools, but it’s completely different outdoors, so they might overestimate their ability”.

“We’ll have this situation now where we’ll have this lovely air temperature, but the water is still cold, and what that means is that if they go in, the muscles cool, and that makes swimming more difficult and staying afloat more difficult.”

He also warned rip currents are “extremely common all around the country” and said anyone caught in one should not fight it, swim parallel to the shore and float on their backs like a starfish.

Even those heading out because of the good weather, not intending to swim, should take care, he said.

Over the last five years in Ireland, 65% of the drownings were of people who had “no intention” of getting in the water, including people out for walks or fishing from the shore.

“A lot of people at this time of year, they’ll read something about being water safe, and they’ll think ‘I’m not going in the water just yet’, but they don’t realise that the majority of drownings had no intention of it going in,” Mr Sweeney said.