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INTENSE HEAT IS on the way over this weekend and into next week as Met Éireann warns that climate change has increased the chance of temperature records being broken.
A high temperature advisory came into effect yesterday with the forecaster cautioning that daytime temperatures could exceed 30 degrees Celsius in some areas next week.
High temperatures tomorrow and Saturday are expected to range in the low to mid 20s, picking up steam in the following days to rise to mid to upper 20s on Sunday and possibly reaching the 30s on Monday.
The forecast for Tuesday isn’t certain yet but Met Éireann believes it will likely be another hot day – possibly as hot, if not hotter, than Monday.
The hot air also brings the chance of some bursts of thunder, particularly on Tuesday.
At night, some areas may experience a ‘tropical night’ on Sunday and Monday where temperatures do not fall below 20 degrees, with most of the country experiencing mid to high teens.
Ireland’s first tropical night in 20 years occurred in 2021, with only six recorded in digital record.
The high temperature advisory is set to remain in place until midnight on Wednesday, when cooler air is expected to come in from the west along with some wetter weather.
This period of hot weather is caused by a portion of the Azores High – an area of high atmospheric pressure – extending over Ireland for the weekend and interacting with a low pressure system off the coast of Portugal.
As the high pressure air moves clockwise and the low pressure air moves anticlockwise, the two will generate a strong surge of warm air that will be pushed northwards, bringing the airmass that caused a heatwave on the continent to Ireland.
While it is not unexpected for July to be one of the warmest months of the year, the climate crisis, which is unsettling weather patterns, increases the likelihood of extreme weather events like heatwaves.
As well as influencing their occurrence in the first place, it can make those events longer, more frequent, and more intense.
“While extremely hot weather does occur within natural climate variability, the kinds of temperature extremes we are seeing in Europe are directly influenced by climate change,” Met Éireann said in a statement.
“June 2022 was Europe’s 2nd warmest on record, and the USA’s warmest. The eight hottest Junes on record globally all occurred in the last eight years.”
Keith Lambkin, Head of Met Éireann’s Climate Services Division, said that “due to climate change, we are expecting to see heatwaves become longer, more frequent and intense than in the past”.
“This increase in heat increases the odds of temperature records being broken.”
Last July, Northern Ireland broke its highest temperature on record several times in one week.
The first half of this year has been marked by heatwaves and hot extremes in locations around the world.
In March and April, India and Pakistan recorded temperatures in the high 40s that far surpassed expectations for spring, while the Arctic and Antarctic recorded major temperature increases that were also far above the normal level for that time of year.
In mid-May and again in June, Spain was hit with hot weather that experts said was not uncommon in and of itself, but its early, intense onset was alarming.
China experienced its worst heatwave in decades this month after rainfall hit record levels in June, with similarly high temperatures in Japan.
And another heatwave swept across Europe this week, hitting France, Spain, Portugal, and the UK.
In 2021, temperatures in Ireland were above average for the 11th year in a row. Temperatures and sunshine were above average while rainfall was below.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service reported a record level of extreme weather last year, including the warmest summer and hottest day in Europe at 48.8C in Sicily, Italy.
A report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change last year found that human-caused climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes across the entire globe.
Those extremes include events like heatwaves, floods, droughts and storms.
The IPCC said the scale of recent changes to the climate system is “unprecedented” over hundreds and thousands of years.
Human influence is the primary driver of global warming and “deep reductions” in greenhouse gas emissions are crucial to stop temperatures rising and prevent global catastrophes.
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Mr Biden clearly doesn’t understand Separation of Powers. Just because he disagrees with a ruling doesn’t mean the Court is out of control.
@Elrond Rivendell: separation of powers , what guff when you can stack it full of medivialests and a country house so you know what.
@Elrond Rivendell: he wasn’t shouting that when he agreed with other rulings
@Billybutcher: You can and may stack it as US Presidents from both sides of the aisle have done. One might argue that’s how Roe v Wade was passed in the first instance, when the US Supreme Court was stacked by Democrat nominees. You can’t have it both ways. By the by, separation of powers is not guff, it’s a fact.
@Billybutcher: blah blah screw the law no agree with me want leftist dictator asap.
@Elrond Rivendell: Oh clearly Joe Biden doesn’t understand separation of powers. Clearly. Such an imbecilic comment. Honestly; just stop.
@Elrond Rivendell: what Biden is doing is exactly the reason for the separation of powers lol. So one branch cannot rule like a dictator I.e SCOTUS
@Vonvonic: He does understand, it’s just theatre for his base. He knows he can do nothing unless Congress passes a law for him to sign.
@Billybutcher: ignorance is not a virtue key board warrior.
@Vonvonic: Sleepy Joe doesn’t understand much anymore, god love him.
@Vonvonic: Soooooooooooooo no substantive response only “just stop” and an imbecilic comment. Gotcha
Wowwww the US president is complaining that he can’t control the highest court in the country. That’s the idea of a democratic justice system. They must be free from political interference.
@Martin O Connell: I’m not going to go over how the Conservative majority of the SCOTUS came to be, because we all know how. As much due to cynical opportunism by the GOP as due to several consistent shortcomings by the Democrats. You see the problem is this: the SCOTUS membership and decisions are not reflective of American demographics and support for specific legal positions. It’s now out of step with American citizens as a whole, which clearly presents a problem. Now I don’t know about you, but any country in which a Supreme Court is making decisions (and actively proposing going after existing rulings) that aren’t reflective of the opinions of the majority of its citizens……and ignoring some deeply concerning statements and behavior by members and their close relations……….
@David A. Murray: wasn’t an issue when the shoe was on the other foot!!!! Trump came at a time where it gave the republicans the opportunity to stack the deck. Now don’t forget, Trump was a life long democrat supporter/funder before Hilary. They can’t change the rules just because they lost control. That’s not a democracy.
@David A. Murray: A court’s decisions are based on laws, not on demographic or political views. It’s easy to blame Trump for the decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade, but when you look into the reasons for the decision, you see that it is right and based on existing laws. Roe vs. Wade itself was based on a flawed argumentation. Now it’s the lawmaker’s turn. And if there is a demographic majority, the voters can decide about this matter in the next elections.
They should have set it into law when they had a super majority.
@Mickgas: both sides have used it as a Boogeyman to get votes for decades. I think in the backrooms both parties are thinking “we’ve been running on that for decades!”
Passing new law is the role of Congress and is exactly how things should be done. Roe was junk law predicated on a ridiculous interpretation of the constitution. The courts have been standins for a functioning congress for decades
Maybe he just means it’s out of his control.
He needs to go too like bojo and trump. A list of very very ordinary leaders. The world needs better now
Supreme court is “out of control” means its too conservative for Joe. It was fine all along though.
The comments on the journal get more and more right wing all the time. Pro Putin, against abortion… and on it goes.
@Bríann O Connor: what wrong with being right wing?
@Bríann O Connor: nothing wrong with being against abortion tbf it’s a nasty unfortunate circumstance for any woman to face ending a heart beat
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