Met Eireann has warned that the next few days will "turn more unsettled" with a status yellow warning for rain and thunderstorms currently in place for Ireland.

In terms of the caution, scattered heavy downpours and thunderstorms are expected in some areas on Wednesday and for a time on Thursday. Localised flooding may occur where rainfall is heaviest.

However, despite temperatures peaking at 28.3°C in Durrow, Co. Laois on Tuesday, conditions are set to deteriorate with Wednesday when the warm airmass and high pressure is replaced by a less warm, more unstable airmass.

Speaking about this change, Met Éireann meteorologist Matthew Martin said: “We’ll still see temperatures reaching into the low 20’s Celsius in some areas over the next few days, but later this week and into the weekend temperatures will fall to around 16C to 19C, which is more average for the time of year.

“We also have a more unstable airmass moving in over the country and this will bring the chance of some heavy showers and thunderstorms through the rest of the week, though pinpointing when and where the thunderstorms will occur can be a challenge.

“Whilst many areas may avoid the heavy showers and thundery downpours, where they do occur it could lead to the risk of localised flooding and disruption to transport.

"We’re therefore encouraging people to stay up to date with our forecasts and warnings, as well as our radar so they can keep an eye on thunderstorm development.”

The status yellow rainfall and thunderstorm warning is valid from until 1pm on Thursday, where scattered heavy downpours and thunderstorms could lead to localised flooding in places.

The UK Met Office has a thunderstorm warning in place for Northern Ireland on Thursday too.

Speaking about this weekend's forecast, Mr Martin added: “At the moment it looks like we’ll see a mix of sunny spells and scattered showers on Saturday and Sunday, although these showers aren’t expected to be as heavy as what we can expect over the next few days.

“There are signs of high pressure returning next week which could bring a more settled spell, however, there’s still a good deal of uncertainty in the forecast at this early stage.”