Grab your sunscreen and pull out the shorts, Met Éireann is predicting a warm and sunny Saturday this June bank holiday weekend. It may not reach the scorching levels of last summer’s heat wave, but meteorologist Jean Byrne says we can expect a “warm” day with temperatures of 18-22 degrees.

However, you may need your trusty rain jacket if you brave the western beaches later in the weekend as a band of rain is expected to push in from the Atlantic on Saturday night and into Sunday afternoon. As the rain pushes gradually east throughout Sunday it’s expected to fizzle out leaving the east and southeast of the country mainly dry.

Monday will welcome back the sunshine with temperatures of 14-18 degrees, although the weather will be cooler with a chance of scattered showers. “The weather will probably be similar to Sunday,” said Ms Byrne of Met Éireann. “It will turn cooler and more showery from Tuesday onwards,” she added.

Back to this morning’s sunny skies, unfortunately the English rain clouds are headed our direction, with cloud build up and scattered showers expected in the afternoon and evening, particularly in parts of the southwest and midlands.

Drizzle and patches of rain will continue tomorrow in the east, but western counties can expect sunny spells and temperatures of 17-19 degrees.

Friday will open the bank holiday celebrations with clear skies and a promise from Met Éireann that “it should be dry nearly everywhere” with highs of 17-19 degrees. Of course, there’s still the possibility of some rain on Friday, but what would an Irish weather forecast be without the reliable “scattered showers”.