Bank holiday weekend: Sun to make a flying visit as 450,000 to travel through Dublin Airport

Hundreds of thousands of people will be on the move in the days ahead with the sun set to smile on many of those in transit – at least for some of the time.

Just under half a million people will come and go through Dublin Airport between Friday and next Monday with 240,000 passengers departing and 210,000 arriving.

The busiest day of the bank holiday weekend at the airport will be Sunday when around 117,000 passengers are expected to travel through Dublin Airport.

The airport’s car parks – apart from the short-term car park – are booked out, and those without a reserved slot are advised to travel to the airport using other methods.

Irish roads are also set to be busy over the long weekend with the Road Safety Authority (RSA) and Applegreen service stations providing free cups of coffee to motorists at the start and end of the bank holiday to help combat driver fatigue.

The free coffees will be available between 2pm and 8pm on both Friday and Monday, and all people need to do is mention the RSA at the Applegreen till when getting their coffee and the charge will be waived.

Weather-wise, Friday and Saturday are promising with significant amounts of sun set to shine across the country, but the start of both June and Leaving Cert season appears to have left the weather gods unmoved, with clouds and cold weather set to dominate for much of the week ahead.

The bank holiday weekend will start dry and sunny for most of the country with some patchy cloud in the north and northwest and temperatures of between 15 and 20 degrees, in light to moderate northerly winds.

Friday night will be dry with long clear spell and temperatures of between 4 and 8 degrees with the best of the weather in the days ahead likely to follow as dawn breaks.

According to Met Éireann Saturday will be dry with long spells of sunshine and temperatures of between 16 and 20 degrees although it will feel a little cooler in the northwest, in light to moderate northwesterly winds.

Saturday night will be dry with clear spells at first but cloud will increase from the northwest overnight and Sunday will be mostly cloudy with some light patchy rain or drizzle feeding in from the northwest.

The best of any bright or sunny intervals will be in the south and southeast with highest temperatures ranging from between 16 and 20 degrees

Monday will continue mostly cloudy with rain or drizzle at times while Tuesday will start off mostly cloudy with some light rain or drizzle although it will brighten up from the northwest later with a few showers.

Highest temperatures will range from 14 to 18 degrees with moderate to fresh northwest winds. Wednesday marks the start of the Leaving Cert, but the traditional sunshine of exam time is set to stay away with both Wednesday and Thursday promising to be cool and breezy. Those days will have sunny spells, scattered showers and temperatures struggling to reach 15 degrees at their warmest.