Before you think this is April fools joke unfortunately it's now.

The weather is set to take a dramatic change at the end of the weekend as much cold conditions push down from the Arctic region with winds turning northerly and Temperatures dropping below freezing with wintry showers.

But Thursday to Saturday is set to be dry countrywide with good sunny spells.

Turning dry everywhere from Thursday to Saturday with good sunny spells Thursday, Friday and Saturday will see strong ridge of high pressure build across Ireland with Ireland sitting right under the main area of High pressure which will bring calm settled and dry conditions and going by the latest position the high pressure will set up in it will also bring some nice much needed sunshine to start of the Easter Holiday across Ireland.

THURSDAY

Temperatures on Thursday will range between 11C to 18C warmest in the southwest the day will be a dry one with good sunny spells especially over the later afternoon and evening after some cloud to start the day. Overnight it will be cool with lows of around 2C in some parts of the north with the slight risk of frost with highs of 7C.

GOOD FRIDAY

Temperatures on Friday will range between 10C to 16C again warmest in the southwest with good sunshine across the whole country.

FRIDAY NIGHT

Overnight will be cold again with temperatures falling between -2C to 4C again with frost developing.

EASTER SATURDAY

Saturday again looks like another dry and sunny day with temperatures between 10C to 13C, Later in the afternoon cloud will increase in places with cloudier conditions developing during the evening .

SATURDAY NIGHT

Overnight will be cool with the slight risk of some frost in northern areas. The night will see some clear spells but cloud will increase before dawn. Temperatures will range between 0C to 4C

Turning much colder Easter Sunday and Easter Monday with snow showers in places

A change in conditions will occur on Easter Sunday with winds turning more northerly in direction with colder air then working its way down from the Arctic later Sunday. Temperatures on Sunday afternoon will range between 9C to 12C but. on Sunday afternoon a cold front will move down across Ireland moving north to south across the country with showers of rain in places over the later stage on Sunday morning and afternoon these heaviest over the northern half of Ireland as this cold front moves southwards across Ireland much colder air will then move in behind the cold front on Sunday evening and night with temperatures falling very quickly with low of -3C to 2C overnight across Ireland. Showers will also turn wintry overnight Sunday as that colder air digs in with some places possibly seen falls on Snow by Dawn Monday morning with some areas also at risk of accumulations

Easter Monday will be a very cold day and much colder than average for the time of year with lows of 3C to 6C/7C. Further showers some wintry will continue on Monday with falls of hail, sleet and snow these heaviest across northern & northwestern areas where some hazardous driving conditions will be possible with some areas also at risk of temporary accumulations

The trend after Monday is for colder conditions and a northerly airflow to persist over the rest of next week into the following weekend with some wintry falls over the week as cold air flow from the Arctic. Southern and eastern parts of Ireland will see the best of any drier weather on Sunday and early next week with the highest risk of wintry falls across Ulster and Northern Connacht.

I will have another update over the start of this weekend.

Kenneth Mc Donagh from the Donegal Weather Channel

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