WITH THE JUNE bank holiday weekend on the horizon,  there couldn’t be a better time for forecasters to tell us that summer is finally here.

Met Eireann is predicting that temperatures could rise to 25C by Friday and temperatures are likely to remain high particularly in the south west and west for Friday and Saturday with good sunny spells.

However, Mark Dunphy from Irish Weather Online is warning that the east and north of the country may suffer the effects of a north easterly breeze. He’s told TheJournal.ie that the breeze will mean cloud for the east and north for most of the weekend, although Friday should see sunny spells everywhere and that the rain should stay away until Sunday at least.

Here’s just some of the things you can do to make the most of the improvement in the weather and to celebrate the start of summer….

• The Bloom event takes place in the Phoenix Park from Thursday 2 June to Monday 6 June. Calling itself “Ireland’s largest garden festival” the event will feature 27 showgardens, a food village with cookery demonstrations and a lot of activities for children. As an added bonus, Brendan and Sonya from Off the Rails will be there too.
• The Rory Gallagher International Tribute Festival will again attract music fans from all over the world to the small town of Ballyshannon in Co. Donegal. The event kicks off on Thursday 2 June and goes on until Sunday 5 June (but presumably the festivities will carry on into the wee hours of Monday). This is the tenth Rory Gallagher Festival and many of the events and gigs are free and open to the public. The guitar legend was born in Ballyshannon in 1948.
• The Cat Laughs Comedy Festival returns to Kilkenny this weekend, and it’s expected that 30,000 people will hit the city. It gets underway on Thursday and continues until Monday with comedy from Maeve Higgins, Rich Hall, David O’Doherty, Bo Burnham and dozens more. The highlight will no doubt be the Ireland vs The Rest of the World Football Match on Sunday afternoon. Where better to get a glimpse of Tommy Tiernan’s shins? And if you’re in Kilkenny already it would nearly be a crime not to head to the All Ireland and International Sheep Shearing Championships which will take place on Saturday and Sunday at Cillin Hill. More than 2,500 sheep will be hoping that the sun is here to stay, as they’ll be losing their coats.
• Patti Smith and Echo and the Bunnymen will be in Skibbereen, Co. Cork this weekend for the Cork X Southwest music festival which takes place on Saturday and Sunday on the grounds of the Liss Ard Estate. Also in Cork this weekend is the city’s Pride festival, with the annual parade taking place on Sunday at 3pm.
• In Mayo the Castlebar Blues and Beyond Festival will welcome artists from all over the world with bands performing around the town and some headlining acts in the Royal Theatre.
• The Forbidden Fruit music festival will bring The Flaming Lips, Aphex Twin and Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip to Dublin this weekend. They’ll play in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. Irish acts on the bill include Ham Sandwich, Jape and Cast of Cheers.

There are, of course, dozens more events taking place around the country over the weekend. If the sun does show its face where you are, enjoy! Mark Dunphy tells TheJournal.ie that summer is indeed here to stay. He says that while rain and low temperatures will return early next week and no major heatwaves are predicted, June and July will see normal, or slightly above normal temperatures and near-normal rainfall. It could be worse!

Read more: Irish Weather Online’s summer outlook>