PICTURES: See these images from readers of a perfect rainbow over greater Belfast

Several readers have shared their images of the arc that formed over the sky and was particularly visible in east Belfast and east Co Down.

Keep scrolling down to see the images.

It followed a third day of changeable weather in the province after weeks of mostly sunshine.

On this article we share pictures from a reader in Newtownards and two in east Belfast.

One of the images came from James Agar, who lives near to Stormont. He noted that others had also seen the rainbow, and said: “It’s cool.”

It comes after a spell of stunning conditions, that has left Northern Ireland on course for the sunniest spring on record: March was drier, warmer and brighter than normal. April was one of the sunniest ever recorded. And this month, May, is on course to be one of the sunniest ever, perhaps in fact the sunniest, depending what happens over this last week.

Most days this May, including Friday, had at least one weather station that recorded a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius or had at least 10 hours of sunshine. Several days crossed both the 20C and 10-hour threshold.

To put that in perspective, the average daily maximum temperature in Northern Ireland at the very height of summer – July and August – is about 18 Celsius or 19C. Average maximums at this time of year are 16C.

Thus, the province has been seeing conditions that are better than prevail most summers, let alone in late spring (meteorological spring runs from March 1 to May 31.

The unsettled conditions that arrived on Friday are set to continue this week. It will be a disappointing bank holiday Monday, but not a washout.

The Met Office has forecast bright or sunny intervals at first in Northern Ireland on bank holiday Monday, otherwise cloudy with some showers, in the afternoon some longer spells of rain will develop. It will be cool and breezy, with a much lower maximum temperature than in recent weeks, rising only to around 13 °Celsius.

The outlook for Tuesday to Thursday is for the same: “Cloudy with more rain on Tuesday but brighter later. Sunshine, scattered showers on Wednesday. More rain for a time on Thursday.”

Depending on how much sunshine there is in the coming days, May could yet become the sunniest ever.

To break that record there would not need to be anywhere near as much daily sunshine in the remaining days of the month than there was in its first three weeks, but there would need to be perhaps three or four hours per day.