Welcome to summer.

A time of heavy rain, bursts of sunshine, and much uncertainty. Want to dress for the day? Good luck with that. Heading out without a jacket? Shocking behaviour. Eagerly putting on sun cream first thing in the morning? What do you know that we don't? Irish summers are unpredictable. They always have been and always will be. So, we'd do well to make the most of the sun while we have it, because chances are we won't be seeing it again until mid-July. Probably. This week's forecast seems to be more of the same, as the day (Monday) starts off bright and dry with highest temperatures between 20 and 23 degrees... but there is of course rain a-coming with showers developing by lunchtime. According to Met Éireann, these will be heavy and thundery at times, bringing a chance of localised flooding. The rain will be most frequent over the midlands and north, and later in the west. The evening will be mostly dry across the country, as will the night, but Tuesday morning will see the reemergence of scattered showers in the southeast that will become more widespread in the afternoon, These showers will be most frequent and heaviest in the midlands and Leinster with some thundery downpours expected. Tuesday will also be "a little cloudier", but temperatures will stay between 15 and 17 degrees - with up to 20 degrees in the southeast. A mixed bag, you might say.