Winter may have taken its time to disappear but temperatures across the State appear to have skipped straight to summer - for a little while, at least. By early afternoon on Thursday temperatures had risen to 18 degrees in parts of the east of Ireland. The highest temperature of the year to date - 20 degrees - was recorded on Wednesday in the Phoenix Park in Dublin. Met Éireann director Eoin Moran said the sudden stratospheric warning which brought the unprecedented snow in March and the prolonged recent cold spell is now at end. The weather has a natural set of extremes and a natural variation and this is within normal variation.”

Source: The Irish Times April 19, 2018 12:00 UTC