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LAST UPDATE | 20 Jul 2021
NEWS OUTLETS CAN sometimes be fond of dubbing anything longer than a fleeting appearance by the sun a ‘heat wave’.
But are we correct to use the term to describe the current weather?
The past few days have been absolute scorchers. But is it hot enough to call it a heat wave?
We got in touch with Evelyn Cusack, head of forecasting at Met Éireann, to find out.
She said:
“Our definition is five consecutive days with a maximum temperature of over 25 degrees. We’ve reached that.”
We’ve now reached a point where we can label this current spell of hot weather a heat wave, Cusack confirmed.
The average daytime temperature for this time of year is around 15.5 degrees. We’ve been experiencing temperatures of over 25 degrees since Friday.
The hottest temperatures in Ireland yesterday was 29 degrees, recorded at Gurteen, Co Tipperary.
The hottest temperature ever recorded in Ireland was 33.3 degrees on 26 June 1887 at Kilkenny Castle.
As the hot weather looks set to continue, a Status Yellow high temperature warning was issued this morning for the entire country.
The warning will kick in at 1pm today and will remain in place until 9am on Friday.
Daytime temperatures over the next few days will widely reach the mid to high 20s, with 29 or 30 degrees expected in parts of the midlands.
Met Éireann says it’ll also feel warm, humid and very muggy during the nights this week with most places seeing temperatures remain in the high teens overnight.
Wednesday night and Thursday night especially will be warm, with temperatures expected to still be around 20 degrees at midnight in some parts.
The burning question – how long is the heat wave set to last?
Well, Met Éireann says current indications suggest the heat wave will last for much of this week as high pressure remains across Ireland.
However, it says there are signs the high pressure could break down over the weekend, bringing an end to the very high temperatures.
It will still likely be quite warm with highest daytime temperatures currently looking to remain in the low 20s, with an increased chance of some showery weather.
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Better than a Covid-19 wave anyway. Still waiting with my surfboard on all these waves.
The only Delta I was to see is a plane with Delta Airline written on it
@Paul: out of all the things to call the Indian variant,they called it delta!!I wonder why
@speedy: simples, it was the 4th variant found.
@speedy: In alphabetical order, it’s the 4th variant to be identified internationally. They’re using the Greek alphabet.
@speedy: India complained that it was originally called the Indian variant
@speedy: Greek alphabet. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta! Next one is Epsillon. The variants are now being given a letter – rather than have us blaming the South Africans or the Spanish!
But what does Teresa Mannion have to say?
“Don’t take risks on dangerous roads”?
Are GPs doing non covid procedures these days? I’ve just woken up and may need my boxers surgically removed from my backside.
@Robert Clifford: have you not learned by now that in the heat it’s best to sleep in the birthday suit and kick all covers off
Great, thanks for your incredible insight Evelyn
D
DIDN’T EVERY DOG IN THE STREET KNOW IT WAS A HEAT WAVE
@pat seery: THOSE DOGS IN THE STREET WERE WRONG. IT NEEEDS 5 DAYS OF ABOVE 25C. DONT RELY ON STREET DOGS FOR METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATION.
Poor Theresa manion is in therapy she doesn’t handle extreme weather very well
Surfing 2 waves at the same time
Hose pipe ban now before it’s too late
I’m shocked she didn’t call it muggy
Heatwave is all one word! Yet more careless grammar from The Journal. Really shameful and inexcusable.
Is the average daytime temperature at this time of year really 15.5 C? Maybe if you include cool morning and evenings but average max temperatures are around 16-20.
Now I don’t have any meteorological qualifications, but I think Evelyn is wrong, and that a heatwave is simply 5 consecutive days with the temperature 5 degrees over the average temperature. So you could have a heatwave in January if it was 15 degrees for 5 days in a row.
@DarraghLD: she’s not wrong if the average max temperature is 20 in July. Which it is.
Still awaiting the appointment of a copy editor to The Journal. “Heatwave” is all one word.
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