Temperatures could hit as high as 25 degrees this weekend as “warmer than average” and “predominately dry” weather hits much of the country across the weekend and into early next week, according to Met Éireann.
As music fans gathered for the first day of Electric Picnic in Stradbally, Co Laois on Friday, the weather forecast for festivalgoers was generally positive for the weekend. .
According to Met Éireann, Saturday is expected to a mostly dry day, with low cloud, mist and fog clearing in the morning. There will be sunny spells, turning hazier later – and the chance of a few light showers. Highest temperatures of 19 to 22 degrees are forecast. High pressure will be “dominating” the weather, leading to the higher than usual temperatures.
Sunday will be another largely dry day with good sunny spells, with highest temperatures of 19 to 23 degrees, according to the forecaster.
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Moving into next week, Monday is set to be a dry and mild day with plenty of sunshine, and highest temperatures of 21-25 degrees in light southeast to east or variable breezes.
Met Éireann expects good spells of sunshine on Tuesday, although there is the chance of some heavy or thundery showers. Highest temperatures are due to be 20-24 degrees generally.
The outlook further into the week is uncertain, with the high pressure set to gradually decline towards the east, allowing for some rain and showers to move in. Temperatures are expected to still hit the low 20s.
Paul Downes, an operational meteorologist at Met Éireann, said forecast models differ on next week’s outlook but a push of cooler air from the northwest will bring temperatures back down and unsettled weather towards the middle to end of the week.
“It’s quite short lived,” says Mr Downes of the upcoming good weather, “but we are looking at some nice warm temperatures for this time of year.”
According to Mr Downes, a “blocking pattern” throughout the summer ensured that high pressure remained in southern Europe over Greece, Italy and Spain. “We’ve been plagued by low pressure over the last few months and a lot of rainfall,” he said.
A number of hurricanes, tropical storms and depressions in the Atlantic were “pumping warmer air into the upper atmosphere,” said Mr Downes, “allowing high pressure to build in from the east. That’s really what is bringing this warmer spell.”
The forecaster said temperatures would reach the mid-20s on Tuesday, with cooler conditions likely to return from Wednesday onwards as a cold front pushes through once again. Temperatures are expected to fall back into the upper teens.
Fog is also anticipated in the early mornings this weekend but is set to clear by Tuesday, he said.
The summer of 2023 was among the five warmest on record, according to Met Éireann’s provisional figures.
It may not have felt that way following July’s washout, but temperatures were well above average in June and above average for August.
Overall the average summer temperature was 15.8 degrees, making it the hottest summer after 1995, 1976 and 2006.
The average summer temperature of 15.8 degrees is almost identical to that of 2018.
This summer was 0.3 degrees warmer than last year despite the summer of 2022 having a few days that were some of the hottest ever recorded in Ireland.
June was the warmest on record in most places with the average temperature for the month exceeding 16 degrees for the first time. It was followed by a forgettable July which was the wettest on record in many places, but was not especially cold with temperatures an average of between 0.6 to 0.8 degrees lower than normal.
August was a warmer month than normal almost everywhere but it too was wet, though most of the rain was concentrated in the first week.
Valentia Observatory in Co Kerry had an exceptionally wet summer with 472mm of rain (177.2mm in August), which is 40 per cent more than average.
Met Éireann climatologist Paul Moore said the warm summer is not down to high temperatures during the day, but relatively warm nights.
Thirteen out of 25 weather stations recording their highest minimum night-time temperature for summer on record.
