As we officially hit autumn, wintry conditions are expected for the rest of the week

Better start dragging the coats out of your wardrobe

Today (September 22) is officially recognised as the first day of autumn, and while we’ve enjoyed Indian summer-like weather over the past few weeks, it looks like the change in seasons will bring a change in temperature too.

For the rest of this week, Met Éireann is forecasting cooler than normal temperatures across the country, with spells of rain, fresh winds and generally changeable conditions until the weekend.

Today will start off mostly dry but cloudy, with a spell of ‘persistent and locally heavy’ rain moving southeastwards over the course of the day. Temperatures will hit a maximum of 15 to 19 degrees, coolest along Atlantic coasts.

Early tonight, the rain will clear off into the Irish sea, and the night will remain mostly clear across the country. It will be cold though, with temperatures of just 4 to 8 degrees.

Wednesday will be cool, bright and cooler than usual, with temperatures hitting 11 to 14 degrees, and conditions will drop as we move closer to the weekend.

Thursday in particular will be a wintry day, after a spell of heavy rain across the country on Wednesday night. Cold and mostly cloudy, there will be heavy bursts of rain, with a risk of strong to gale force winds on Munster and south Leinster coasts throughout the day. The windy conditions will continue throughout Thursday night, with temperatures of 4 to 7 degrees.

The rain will keep off on Friday and Saturday, but it will be cooler and breezier than what we’ve been used to so far this season. Rain will unfortunately return on Sunday, extending from the Atlantic, but temperatures will rise marginally with it.

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