LAST UPDATE | 20 Jul 2021

Brittas Bay in Wicklow on Saturday RollingNews.ie RollingNews.ie

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. 

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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.