Ireland weather: Highs of 23C today but risk of thunderstorms ahead

The mercury will hit a toasty 23C today as Met Eireann predicts "good spells of sunshine" ahead.

A forecaster said: "After a cloudy, damp start rain will clear from western areas and it will brighten up with good spells of sunshine developing through the afternoon.

"Temperatures will reach between 19C and 23C degrees, warmest in Leinster, and winds will be light and variable in direction."

And Thursday is set to be even warmer with temperatures expected to exceed 25C in Leinster while it will be over 20C throughout the rest of the country.

But the national forecaster also warned of a risk of thunderstorms, lightning and heavy showers tomorrow night.

A forecaster said: "The warm conditions may spark isolated thunderstorms by late afternoon or early evening. Light northerly winds will become moderate northwesterly, variable in direction in Leinster.

"The outlook for tomorrow, Thursday night, is for an ongoing risk of heavy showers with lightning.

"Winds will be mainly light northerly or variable becoming light westerly. Lowest temperatures of 11C to 14C."

Meanwhile, Friday will be cooler with temperatures dipping to between 15 and 21C, warmest in east Ulster.

It'll be noticeably cooler again on Saturday with freshening westerly winds bringing further showers and highest temperatures of 14C to 17C.

The current outlook for the early days of next week is for continued unsettled conditions with rain or showers at times.