Here comes the sun as temperatures to hit 19°C in Derry
It may have felt more like winter than spring over recent days but a big change is forecast with temperatures set to rise to just below 20°C across Derry, Tyrone and Donegal next week.
It may well be time to track down your sunglasses and get the Factor 50 out of the cupboard as both Met Éireann and the Met Office concur there will be a big shift to warmer, drier, sunnier conditions from early next week through into the weekend.
After windy and heavy showers this week, the weather will improve gradually from this weekend with Derry forecast to see temperatures lift to a high of 14 degrees in the late afternoon on Saturday with some sunny spells and the odd shower. More grey skies are forecast with some sunshine for Derry over Sunday into Monday, by which time the temperatures will have improved to a high of 16 degrees.
The big change is set to become really noticeable on Tuesday with lots of bright sunshine forecast for the city and highs of 17 degrees, rising to 18 degrees on Wednesday and then 19 degrees for both Thursday and Friday, again with lots of sunshine forecast at this stage by the Met Office
For north Inishowen, it is a similar picture although it could be slightly milder, with Met Éireann forecasting at this stage highs of 17 degrees for Wednesday and 14 degrees for Thursday for the Carndonagh, but there will be plenty of dry and sunny weather throughout the week here and elsewhere across the region.