Northern Ireland weather summer 2024: Here comes the sun at last, says Met Office

The news comes as the Met Office predicted that a spell of generally settled weather will bring “more summer-like” conditions to much of the UK, particularly towards the end of this week.

The Met Office said temperatures could reach as high as 24C in south-east England and 20C in Northern Ireland and Scotland by Friday.

It comes after temperatures so far this month have been a few degrees below their seasonal average, affecting small businesses which rely on tourism or high street foot traffic.

This was in contrast to the UK’s hottest June on record, seen this time last year, where the mercury rose as high as 32.2C in Lincolnshire and Surrey.

Last week the Met Office said that temperatures in Northern Ireland had reached as low as 1.8C in Katesbridge this month and that anecdotal reports of frost in Kilkeel last week were plausible – and not unheard of in early June.

The UK has experienced its coolest first 10 days of June since 2020.

But Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon, said rising temperatures across the UK towards the end of the week would also be reflected in Northern Ireland.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, is to be cloudy with some rain but reaching 16C by the afternoon.

“It’ll be another dry and bright day Wednesday with patchy rain spreading east overnight into Thursday,” he told the News Letter.

“Thursday will soon become dry and bright. There will be outbreaks of rain spreading east on Friday. Temperatures will slowly increase and it’ll feel warm in any sunshine. Wednesday could reach 18C, 19C on Thursday and there is potential for highs to reach 20C by Friday.”

The Met Office has not yet given a specific forecast for this weekend for Northern Ireland. However the UK-wide long range weather forecast for this Saturday until next Monday begins with cloudier weather and outbreaks of rain, especially in the west.

"However, this may not last too long, as it continues to look increasingly likely that a drier, warmer, and settled spell will begin to develop later this coming weekend, and into the following week.”