Northern Ireland weather: Rain is here to dampen the party mood

​Not totally unwanted, the showers will be begrudgingly welcomed by those who have watched their gardens and plants slowly die off.

It may also mean that indoor activities like ten-pin bowling, going to the movies or even just dining out in a restaurant may come back into fashion.

And thankfully the gorse wildfires in Co Antrim are no longer in major incident status, the Northern Ireland Fire and Service has said.

The service said has resumed normal operational response across the Province following three days of wildfires and other emergency incidents.

From Wednesday until today, NIFRS received 716 emergency calls and attended 318 incidents, with 96 of these being wildfire incidents.

Over 500 fire appliances, including specialist appliances, were mobilised.

The largest blaze was the wildfire at Ballyemon Road, Glenariff, Co Antrim, which the fire service was first called to around midday on Wednesday.

The Irish Air Corps was called in to assist with helicopters to drop water directly on the gorse fires.

Resources at Glenariff were scaled down yesterday afternoon but over 51 firefighters, eight officers, eight fire appliances, and five specialist appliances remain at the site.

Despite the rain Northern Ireland will remain very humid with temperatures still hitting the low twenties.

Showers will continuetomorrow and will be heavy at times, the Met Office has said.

It will be a largely cloudy morning with outbreaks of rain, heavy at times, with brighter spells expected in the afternoon with scattered heavy and thundery showers developing.

The maximum temperature in Northern Ireland is likely to be 21C.

From Sunday through to Tuesday it will be somewhat unsettled with a few showers, especially heavy tomorrow afternoon.

Most places will remain dry in the mornings with afternoon showers on Monday and Tuesday.

The Met Office said that throughout this unsettled period it will remain warm.