THE PAST WEEK has seen Ireland hit a bit of a purple patch weather-wise.
Summer clothes have been dusted down and trips to the beach pencilled in for the weekend.
Things have been so nice in fact that there has even been some mumblings that we could be in the middle of a heatwave.
People on social media certainly seem to think so:
“It is not a heatwave,” Met Éireann’s John Eagleton explains to TheJournal.ie.
The definition of a heatwave is five consecutive days over 25 degrees in temperature.
“You can call it a heatwave if you like,” Eagleton adds, acknowledging that the general public might not be overly concerned with meteorological technicalities, “nobody is going to put you in jail for it”.
He explains that while temperatures have managed to hit 23 degrees in some places over the past few days, we are probably about a month too early for a heatwave.
If we had the same run of clear weather in July, he says, there would be more potential for it happening.
The last time there was a legitimate heatwave in this country was back in 2013, when Ireland was swept up in a batch of good weather that saw temperatures soar across Europe.
There is no telling at the moment if the temperatures will maintain for the rest of the summer, and milder conditions are forecast for next week.
Still – according to Eagleton temperatures could break 25 degrees on Sunday, so get out and enjoy it while it lasts.
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