Weather has '˜turned a corner' say Met Office

While yesterday was still a fairly brisk day in terms of temperature, Northern Ireland at least enjoyed a decent helping of sunshine. Forecast temperatures for today are similar, with a range between 7 and 12 degrees C, but tomorrow is set to give us the first taste of the milder temperatures to come.

Stuart Brookes, a meteorolgist with the Met Office, said: “The highest temperature for Thursday was at Magilligan up in the North West, 11.7. The lowest was 7.6 in Glenanne in south east Armagh.

“Friday will be quite a poor day generally with windy conditions and some rain but temperatures could be between 7 and 12 degrees.

“The real turnup will be on Saturday where we could maybe see 15 degrees. Sunday and even into Monday is still in the low to mid teens as well.”

He continued: “We seem to have turned a corner. That’s not to say we won’t still have some cooler snaps as we go through April, but yes we seem to have passed the worst of it.”

Meanwhile, the Jersey Royal season is at least three weeks late this year after the cold snap dubbed the ‘Beast from the East’ delayed the planting of the spring crop. The potato’s short seasonal window, usually from April to mid-July, is behind schedule after frosts and heavy rainfall.