THE LAST FEW days have been something of a weather disaster.
It’s been cold, really cold. It’s also been wet and windy – with snow even falling in places.
This was the view in Dunshaughlin in Meath yesterday morning.
Let’s not forget that just last week we had highs of 17 degrees with the sun splitting the stones.
So, what’s happening?
Joanna Donnelly, a meteorologist with Met Éireann, told TheJournal.ie about why we’ve been having the weather we’ve been having.
Basically, it’s to do with the positions of the Atlantic weather systems – high pressure from the Atlantic has put us into a northerly flow.
The size of the weather system means that air is coming down to us from the Arctic. And air from the Arctic is, well, cold.
“That’s what’s happening in a nutshell,” said Donnelly.
It’s Arctic air that’s coming our way.
Ireland is currently under a band of low pressure, causing rain to fall.
The rain yesterday turned to hail or sleet or snow because of the cold Arctic air.
But when will it end?
Things are still quite cold today, with maximum temperatures ranging from just eight to 10 degrees.
However, Donnelly said that temperatures should start to creep up as the weekend progresses.
“It’s going to get minimally warmer,” said Donnelly.
We might even get a recovery for the bank holiday weekend with some warm slots.
Temperatures could get into the mid-teens for Sunday. But Donnelly said that low pressure meant that there would be more rain.
Into next week, and temperatures could rise again to the mid-teens, but it won’t be getting much warmer than that.
It’s just one of those things,” said Donnelly.
The way the pressure systems have lined up to give us this arctic blast.
So, will we have a warm summer?
“There’s no possibility of any indications of that yet,” said Donnelly.
And it’s not just Met Éireann who can’t predict, it’s just not possible to do.
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