Several counties in Ireland have been placed under a weather warning as a spell of high temperatures has already surpassed May records, with provisional data on Tuesday showing temperatures exceeding 29C.
Yellow Weather Warning Issued
Counties Clare, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Galway, Kilkenny, Laois, and Offaly were put under a yellow warning from midday on Tuesday until 6pm on Wednesday. Met Eireann stated that maximum temperatures would exceed 27C, with night-time levels above 15C expected.
The agency warned of water safety issues due to increased use of lakes and beaches, the possibility of forest fires, uncomfortable sleeping conditions, and heat stress.
Record-Breaking Temperatures
Met Eireann reported that its station at Shannon Airport in County Clare logged a May highest temperature of 28.6C on Monday, surpassing the previous record of 28.4C set in County Kerry in 1997. On Tuesday, those levels appeared to be surpassed in early data published by the forecaster.
Met Eireann's station at Oak Park, County Carlow recorded 29.1C at 3pm on Tuesday. Higher temperatures were noted in unofficial provisional observations at Met Eireann's automatic climate stations (ACS) on both days, with Killarney ACS recording 30.1C at 2pm on Tuesday.
Forecast for Wednesday
The forecasting agency said the hot weather would continue into Wednesday, with top temperatures ranging from 22C to 30C, hottest in the Midwest and West of Ireland.
Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland, the highest maximum temperature on Monday of 25.8C was recorded at Derrylin, Cornahoule. Tuesday saw highest temperatures in the region of between 20C and 23C.
