What is causing the high temperatures in Ireland this week?
Ireland is on the outer edge of a very large area of high pressure drawing in warm, dry air over continental Europe.
The heat dome, as it is called by meteorologists, is bringing near-record temperatures to parts of Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece. Greece is engulfed in large wild fires.
[ What is a ‘heat dome’ and how is it powering heatwaves across Europe? ]
A heat dome occurs when an area of high pressure settles over the land, trapping hot air underneath it. The air can neither rise nor fall and therefore cannot cool. This phenomenon can last for days.
RM Block
“The jet stream is located to the north; that is allowing for high pressure to build. That is situated over us and it is feeding in the warm and humid air that is over Europe,” Rebecca Cantwell, of Met Éireann, said.
How long will the present spell last?
At least another week. Friday is forecast to be the hottest day of the current spell, with the possibility of 27 degrees in places. It will also be very humid.
Saturday and Sunday will be warm and sunny with temperatures of up to 26 degrees. Similar temperatures are expected until Wednesday at least.
Ms Cantwell said Ireland was lucky in getting warm and sunny weather without the extreme heat that continental Europe was experiencing at present.
[ In pictures: Europe’s wildfires spread close to southern capitals ]
There was no chance, she said, of Ireland breaking the August record temperature of 32.2 degrees set in 2022.
Is climate change responsible for the current weather?
Meteorologists are reluctant to ascribe individual weather events to climate change rather than to natural variability.
However, the World Meteorological Organisation’s European State of the Climate report from last year said Europe was warming twice as fast as the global average.
This is due to several factors, including the proportion of European land in the Arctic, which is the fastest‑warming region on Earth, changes in atmospheric circulation that favour more frequent summer heatwaves and a reduction in aerosol emissions.
As a consequence, heatwaves are becoming more frequent and severe, and southern Europe is seeing widespread droughts.
Changes in the pattern of precipitation, including an increase in the intensity of the most extreme events, have been observed.
The organisation said this could lead to increased flooding and had likely contributed to some of the most catastrophic events seen last year.
Nearly 440,000 hectares, or about 1.1 million acres, have burned in the European Union since the beginning of the year, compared with about 189,000 hectares (466,000 acres) over the same period in 2024, the EU’s research centre said.
