Saharan dust to move over Ireland amid 'unusually mild' January weather

A high concentration of Saharan dust is on the way to Ireland amid "unusually mild" temperatures for this time of year.

A warm air mass is bringing the dust northwards from the Sahara desert and Spain.

Earlier this week the EU's Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellite showed dust particles being carried by the wind from the Saharan desert and extending north to the Canary Islands.

The dust is expected to blow across Ireland over the weekend, and will fall as rain on Sunday.

Alan O'Reilly, an amateur meteorologist who runs the Carlow Weather social media accounts, said Saharan dust is often high up in the air.

"When rain falls it will bring that dust down to the surface. So very often, during the summer especially, we get Saharan dust over us, but if it's dry and calm, we don't really get that brought down to the surface."

He told Newstalk radio that the warm air mass will make temperatures "unusually mild" on Sunday, reaching up to 14 degrees Celsius in parts.

Met Éireann said Saturday night will be mild and mostly cloudy, with patches of light rain or drizzle.

The forecaster said Sunday will be generally cloudy and dry, with isolated patches of light rain or drizzle. Rain will develop in the west before midday and will move eastwards across the rest of the country during the afternoon and evening.

Rain is set to continue in the south and east on Sunday night, but it will become dry with clear spells in the northwest.

Sunday night will see a return to cooler temperatures of between 1 and 5 degrees.