Temperatures at set to rise to as high as 19 degrees Celsius on Saturday afternoon with long spells of unbroken sunshine bringing an early taste of summer to Ireland.
However, a “stark” change is on the way, meteorologists have warned.
People have been urged to make the most of the unseasonably warm weather as a hard rain is going to come with a change in wind direction and increased cloud cover is set to bring much colder wetter conditions from the middle of next week.
“There is going to be quite a start change and a late cold snap from Wednesday although at this stage it is still uncertain just how cold it is going to get,” said Emer Flood of Met Éireann.
“There is a cold front moving in from the north midweek and that will see a much different range of temperatures to what we have now,” she continued.
Ahead of that the rest of Saturday will be dry and generally fine today with long spells of spring sunshine and just patchy cloud.
The sunshine will be hazy at times with some local mist patches with highest temperatures of 15 to 19 degrees with light northeast or variable breezes.
Sunday will bring more fine weather with similar temperatures.
Monday will start “calm and dry” although there will be cloudy periods alongside the sunny spells and one or two isolated showers developing too.
The clouds will thicken on Tuesday as the winds turn northerly and bring a cold change to the weather.
By Wednesday, the cold front will have firmly settled over Ireland with scattered showers, some possibly wintry, feeding down throughout the afternoon and evening with temperatures struggling to get into double figures.
Ahead of the weekend, the HSE National Cancer Control Centre also issued a warning to people to be “sun smart” and protect their skin when outdoors. It said skin cancer is the State’s most common form of cancer with more then 13,000 cases annually.
The advice from the HSE is to cover skin as much as possible and to “slop on” sunscreen. A wide brimmed hat, remaining in the shade and wearing sunglasses are also recommended.
