If July was one of the driest months in years, August is rapidly making up for it.

This month got off to a flying start with up to 50 mm of rain falling in some parts of the country on Wednesday night, more than in the whole of July and, in stark contrast to last week's sultry bank holiday weekend, the next few days will be breezy and, yes, wet.

The appropriate meteorological term, apparently, is "the weather has broken".

Mr Michael Cleary, a forecaster with Met Eireann, said "further heavy, thundery downpours can be expected, although there will be some warm sunshine too.

"The weather will continue to break down and be more changeable. Into Sunday, it will be cooler and fresher, with the wind picking up."

Temperatures are set to fall from about 23 Celsius yesterday to about 20 Celsius over the weekend. There will be no prolonged dry spell for the foreseeable future, Mr Cleary said.

However, that did not necessarily mean we had seen the best of the weather this year. "We could have another spell like last month. One can't say for sure."

As for the outlook for next Wednesday when the solar eclipse takes place, Met Eireann said it would be unsettled and cloudy.

The indications are that rain on Tuesday night will clear to give rise to bright spells and scattered showers on Wednesday morning. Breaks are expected in the cloud, however, mainly in the south and south-east where up to 98 per cent coverage of the sun by the moon can be viewed.

In Britain, the Meteorological Office said there was only a 50 per cent chance of the full eclipse being visible in the south of England through broken cloud. A mixture of sunshine and showers is forecast for most areas.

Other European countries are not expected to fare much better with thundery storms and thick cloud forecast for France.