Get set to swelter as sun to return this week

Northern Ireland is set for a week of increasingly warm, dry weather, the Met Office has said.
The sun shone for George Logan and his dog Angus at the Friends Goodwill Festival in Larne at the weekend  and this week is set to be a scorcherThe sun shone for George Logan and his dog Angus at the Friends Goodwill Festival in Larne at the weekend  and this week is set to be a scorcher
The sun shone for George Logan and his dog Angus at the Friends Goodwill Festival in Larne at the weekend  and this week is set to be a scorcher

It is set to get both drier and warmer on a day-by-day basis all week, until Thursday and Friday when the temperature is set to exceed 20 degrees with bright sunshine beaming down across Northern Ireland.

As for the weekend, the Met Office is far less certain but the prediction, sadly, is for a slightly wetter outlook – although the potential is there for the sunny spell to continue beyond Friday.

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All week, temperatures are set to be well in excess of the 15.5 degrees that is more usual for this time of year.

The News Letter spoke to Met Office meteorolgist Luke Myell, who also explained how the good weather of recent months was unusual for this time of year.

“It has certainly been drier,” he said. “April was particularly dry. Some places have seen only 20% of the rainfall we would normally see in April, particularly across the south-eastern part of the country.

“May started on a similar note. We have seen lots of dry, warmer weather across the first week or two of May. We have had some rain but we’ve also seen quite a lot of sunshine. April was roughly a degree warmer than normal across Northern Ireland. It doesn’t sound much, a degree, but in terms of averages that is a reasonable amount, quite a lot.”

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As for the week ahead, Mr Myell said: “Monday looks to be fairly cloudy with outbreaks of rain but Monday will probably be the worst of the coming few days. It starts to turn drier and more settled from Tuesday onwards.

“As the week goes on temperatures will continue to rise so I think by the middle of the week we would be approaching 20 degrees and for Thursday and Friday onwards around 21-22 degrees is possible.”

He added: “For this time of year, the average for Belfast is around 15.5 so even Monday is going to be warmer than normal.”