Forecast issued at: Sunday 28th December 2025 11:00
Rain
Rainfall amounts have been well below normal across the country over the last seven days. Amounts ranged from just 0.2 mm at Valentia, Co. Kerry (1% of normal) to 12.3 mm at Cork Airport (41% of normal). High pressure will dominate for much of the coming week, bringing largely dry conditions for a time, though there'll be some rain, drizzle and showers later in the week, which will turn wintry at times, especially further north. Precipitation amounts will be low generally, a little higher in some northern parts later in the week. There'll be little or no precipitation in the southeast, and with only between 2mm and 10mm in many other areas, which equates to less than 30% of normal. In parts of the west and southwest, up to 15mm can be expected, or between 30% and 50% of normal, while up to 20mm is forecast for the north, equating to around 75% of normal.
Temperatures
Mean air temperatures were generally near or below normal over the past week, though were higher than normal in parts of the east and north. Mean air temperatures ranged from 4.2 degrees Celsius at Gurteen, Co. Tipperary, which is 1.5 degrees below normal, to 7.4 degrees Celsius at Johnstown Castle, Co. Wexford, which is over a degree above normal. The coming week will be cold with some frosty nights, though less frosty on Sunday night and Monday night when it'll be cloudier. It'll turn colder generally later in the week. Overall, mean air temperatures will range between 1 and 7 degrees, which is between 1 and 4 degrees below average for most, though around average in some northern parts, with a mean temperature of around 6 degrees Celsius there. Mean soil temperatures will decrease.
Sunshine
Sunshine amounts varied through the country over the past week, but with many areas getting either close to or above normal amounts and some areas getting well above average. However, it was duller in parts of the east. The least amount of sunshine was recorded at Casement aerodrome, Co. Dublin, with 8.4 hours (75% of normal) recorded there. The highest amount of sunshine was recorded at Johnstown Castle, Co. Wexford, with 23.1 hours or 204% of normal received there, while Valentia Observatory, Co. Kerry received 20 hours (215% of normal). Iit'll generally become cloudier for the next couple of days, and while some sunshine will return at times next week, it'll be duller at times with fog or freezing fog likely to linger in some areas by day midweek and with a little rain, drizzle and some showers later on in the week. So overall sunshine amounts are expected to come in around average to a little below over the next 7 days.
Drying Conditions
Drying conditions will be poor generally this week as it will be cold with mostly light winds, though drying conditions will be mostly moderate early in the period close to the east
coast where there'll be more of a breeze. It'll become a little breezier later in the week but with some rain, drizzle and showers around, so drying will remain poor, locally moderate.
Spraying
There'll be good spraying opportunities over much of the next week with mainly dry conditions and light winds expected, though there will be little or no opportunity for spraying initially in eastern coastal parts due to the moderate northeast to east breeze. Later in the week there will be little or no opportunity for spraying as it turns breezier.
Field Conditions
Most well and moderately drained soils are saturated or close to it, while poorly drained soils are either saturated or close to being waterlogged. There will be a slight improvement in field conditions over the coming days, though a slight deterioration to end the week, with some moderately drained soils in northern areas becoming waterlogged.
Forecast maps and meteograms can be found on Blight Forecast.
