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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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If These parasitic agencies had their contribution to the global financial crisis rated it would be a triple A +.it is extraordinary that these dregs of morality ,along with the likes of Goldman Sachs can still hold sway in the the financial system and I say this as a firm believer in capitalism ! Great article Btw
Set up a Eurozone based Rating Agency.
Well Fitch are run by a french company
Joint headquartered in New York and London.
S&p had Lehmans at AAA up into the week that they actually went bust and left millions of creditors high and dry!!!!!
True. And why are we still hearing about their pronouncements on the news? Laziness from journalists, governments and bankers? If they were any good they’d be called “Excellent & Loaded” anyway
Only because the credit agencies base their ratings on factual information rather than government propaganda and governments can’t stand anyone who isn’t playing ball.
I assume you are looking for a reaction with that moronic comment , well you suceeded, troll!
No, the US was downgraded by S&P based on sound monetary data, whereas your comments are based on your ignorance.
Yes, they “eventually” started doing their Job, after playing their part in wrecking the world’s economy. Where was their “Data” when they gave triple A ratings to Billions of Dollars of subprime mortgages wrapped other good loans in the US. Of course this was insured by AIG in the form CDS’ that brought the biggest insurer on the planet to its knees, 85 billion to bail out Bear sterns ,200 Billion to bail out Fannie Mae /Freddie Mac , all because of subprime. Yes the banks were reckless but I wonder what their rating had been??? mmm. I suppose you heard there excuse in the congressional hearings, well of course you didn’t, anyway, it was that “we only give advice/guidance, it’s really up the institution what they do with it.
This is a country where there is now nearly a million people living in tents. And the behaviour off the Rating agencies, Financial was morally repugnant. Then we have monkey talk from the likes of you !
No McManus, you are displaying +your+ ignorance.
In contrast to member countries of the Eurozone, the US remains the sovereign issuer of its own (free floating) currency and because of this fact can never go bankrupt or default on debt denominated in US$.
When S&P downgraded US gov debt, thru’ some combination of political ideology & stupidity, the market interest rate did precisely nothing – +nada+. Indeed, given the even low rate of inflation the US gov can sell every $ of its debt, still, at an even lower rate of interest. Yes, buyers of US gov debt are actually +paying+ to hold it when inflation is taken into account.
Whilst the variously fraudulent, corrupt & ideologically motivated behaviour of the ratings agencies is a key (& unaddressed) part of the cause of the financial meltdown, it is only the tip of the iceberg.
Besides the control fraud (cf former US regulator William K Black) of the financial institutions, both in the US and Europe, we should also be demanding examination of the endemically flawed macro economics thinking that still ignores the effect of debt – indeed the function of banking itself – in its modelling of national economies. Ever wondered why the mainstream of economics had no clue the crisis was coming mere weeks before the crash? Or why the Eurozone is getting worse not better 5 years later?
Irish economists & commentators (with the exception of Dublin based writer Philip Pilkington) continue to be absolutely lamentable on these vital issues. Of course, with secure 6 figure salaries & guaranteed fat pensions, +they+ are not suffering are they?
If you want to find the facts of the intellectual bankruptcy endemic in mainstream macro economics (macro, because national economics is profoundly not like your household or business, despite all the BS from media etc. implying it is) you need to look outside Ireland. Readily available practical solutions are also discussed. (Yes, there are solutions that do not involve massive unemployment for decades & beyond.)
See Prof Bill Mitchell here:
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/
Good articles here:
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/
And Prof Steve Keen here;
http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/
It takes a little time and study to discover the truth in macro economics. But surely we owe it to our children to find out, if not for ourselves. We will not be gifted the solutions that are readily available. The present system is a lie from start to finish, that serves to enrich the top few percent, at the expense of the rest of us, thru’ the creation of both booms & busts.
A good article by Hugh O’Connell here, but there is so much more needs fundamental examination & reform including the Euro structure itself.
S&P are number crunchers that’s all, they do what they do for their clients. Governments oversee financial regulation and dictate financial policy, so stop shooting the messenger! It’s beginning to sound like late Weimar Germany around here with the level of wingnut economic theory being flung about. Corruption and cronyism in politics, get-rich-quick economic policy, war mongering abroad, all must be paid for at the end and the chickens have come home to roost for America.
I know something about the “Pillars of Society’ that you don’t. Further details by searching in Google for ‘ Devrajan Hanna Butler Foley’
Cheers
The Common Informer
People need to understand that Ratings Agencies use historical data (good or bad) so they are after-the-fact telling us what is wrong. They cannot predict. The reason they are still viewed as important is that the prospectuses of funds tends to state that the funds cannot invest in shares/stocks etc less than X or Y rating which is purely a marketing exercise. They serve no real purpose other than marketing/political purposes and anyone who uses them as a benchmark is crazy/delusional.
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