Northern Ireland weather: Met Office confirms unusual rain pattern for March so far

However, weather systems are making one last effort to take the total even higher, with a Yellow Warning for rain in place until 3am tomorrow, Friday.

The heavy rain is due to clear by tomorrow morning, but 15-25mm is expected to fall widely from Thursday into Friday, with some places likely to see 25-30mm, and others even over 40mm, especially across the Antrim hills.

The Met Office has also forecast largely unsettled weather over the Easter period - but with the occasional sunny spells.

A spokesman told the News Letter: "It has been a wet month so far for Northern Ireland, with over a third more rain than average so far, with still a few days of the month to go.

"Although wet, this month isn’t close to record levels for the month for Northern Ireland as yet.

"The rainfall amounts have chiefly been influenced by a succession of weather fronts and low pressure systems influencing the UK’s weather from the west, with Northern Ireland often seeing higher totals as rain moves in."

Ballypatrick, in the Antrim Glens, has had an average March rainfall of 97.1mm so far, which is almost double its average.

"This makes it the second wettest March on record so far," the BBC said. "The wettest was 212.4mm in 2008, although records only go back to 1989 at that station."

Friday, will have a mainly dry morning with sunny spells then clouds building and scattered showers in the afternoon with temperatures reaching 11°C.

There will be sunny spells and scattered showers on Saturday and Sunday, some on the heavy side, drying somewhat on Sunday, then mainly dry with some sunshine on Monday.

Monday to Wednesday next week begins with some uncertainty, but a return towards more widely unsettled conditions looks likely.

Most areas will see further showers and some longer spells of rain at times, although interspersed with some drier spells.

It looks likely that a north - south split could set up across the UK. The wettest weather will tend to favour the south whilst northern parts remain a bit drier on average. In association with this split in general temperatures will be close to average, but it will be occasionally cooler in the north, and milder in south.