ALERT: Irish forecast for next few days predicts some weather 'in from the Atlantic'

THURSDAY: Cold and bright with sunshine and showers. The showers most frequent in the west. Some of the showers will be heavy with hail and a chance of thunder.

There'll be some sleet showers too over hills and mountains and a few snow showers on the mountains. Noticeably cooler than recently with afternoon highs of 5 to 8 degrees.

Breezy too, with moderate to fresh and occasionally gusty southwest to west winds, stronger in the southwest.

SUMMARY: Noticeably colder by Thursday, with temperatures returning close to average accompanied by changeable, and at times unsettled, conditions.

THURSDAY NIGHT: Cold with further showers on Thursday night, especially in parts of the west and northwest, some heavy with hail, with sleet possible over high ground.

It'll be drier further east with lengthier clear breaks. Lowest temperatures of 0 to 3 degrees, with a touch of frost. Winds will be light to moderate southwest to west, fresher in coastal parts of the west and southwest.

FRIDAY: Friday will be another fairly cool day with sunny spells and showers. Some of the showers will again be heavy with hail and a chance of thunder. Afternoon highs of 5 to 8 degrees in moderate, occasionally fresh, and gusty westerly winds.

FRIDAY NIGHT: Showers will become confined to coastal parts of the west and north for a time early on Friday night, but the showers will start to spread elsewhere again overnight. Some falls of sleet or snow are possible over higher ground. Cold with some frost and ice possible as temperatures fall to between -1 and +3 degrees in mostly light to moderate winds, fresher in the west and veering west to northwest overnight.

SATURDAY: Saturday will bring a lot of dry weather overall, with some sunshine, though with cloud increasing from the southwest later. There'll still be a scattering of showers around, these mainly of rain, and they'll tend to die away later. Afternoon highs of 7 to 10 degrees in mainly light to moderate west to northwest winds.

SATURDAY NIGHT: It looks as though outbreaks of rain and drizzle will push up from the southwest on Saturday night.

The northern extent of this rain and drizzle is still uncertain, but it looks as though northern parts of the country will remain dry with clear spells.

Lowest temperatures of 1 to 3 degrees in the north and northeast, 4 to 7 degrees elsewhere in freshening southeasterly winds.

SUNDAY: Current indications for Sunday suggest any rain and drizzle in the south will clear southern counties in the morning, with just scattered showers affecting western, northern and eastern coastal counties during the afternoon.

Top temperatures of 6 to 8 degrees in light to moderate northerly winds.

EARLY NEXT WEEK: A briefly drier and more settled period of weather is currently predicted for Monday but it looks as though Tuesday will bring another spell of wet and breezy weather in from the Atlantic.