Historic heatwave happening for May in Northern Ireland as mercury today hits 26°C - same as Canary Islands

Met Office extremes for NI also revealed that yesterday the Sunniest area was Katesbridge where 12.2 hours was enjoyed.

The news comes during ‘an historic heatwave across the UK at the moment’, according to Met Office meteorologist Greg Dewhurst.

Meanwhile, yesterday the lowest maximum temperature was experienced in Murlough at 19.5 °C.

According to the Met Office today is ‘a dry day with plenty of sunshine, but some cloud bubbling up in the afternoon’.

‘Becoming very warm. Maximum temperature 24 °C,’ it adds.

And tonight will be another ‘dry evening with some bright or sunny spells’ and a ‘minimum temperature 12 °C’.

Tomorrow will be ‘dry with plenty of warm sunshine developing after a fairly cloudy start’.

It will be ‘rather breezy around coasts’ and a ‘maximum temperature 20 °C’.

And the outlook for Wednesday to Friday is that it will be ‘mainly dry with very warm sunshine on Wednesday and Thursday, ‘cloudier later Thursday and Friday morning with the risk of a few showers’.

That great news comes as May heat records could be broken by nearly 3C, to hit 35C this bank holiday, the day after the UK had the month’s highest temperature in at least 79 years.

Temperature records are usually broken tenths of a degree, not several degrees.

Sunday brought a record-breaking high of 32.3C at Kew Gardens, south-west London, and the warmest May night since 1944.

Yet parts of the South and South East could hit 34C or 35C on Monday and Tuesday as heatwaves continue.

Last week there were lows of minus 5C in Scotland and daytime temperatures more widely peaked at about 14C to 15C.

“We see these changes happening so much more dramatically”, senior Met Office meteorologist Greg Dewhurst said, adding that climate change is boosting the heat.

“In the past, heatwaves built and built and built and built over days and days and days – these now just develop so quickly.

“It’s huge sort of swinging temperatures, and obviously records being broken by day and by night, so it just shows sort of how extreme the weather can change, and how quickly it can change as well.”

As a result of climate change, all meteorological models are predicting “more extreme heat, more extreme weather events” and “hotter, drier summers – wetter, windier winters”, he added.

Highs expected in parts of the UK on Monday and Tuesday could top temperatures in Lagos in Nigeria, Cairo in Egypt, and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, according to the BBC.

The Met Office has said heatwave conditions were met in eight parts of England on Sunday – Heathrow in Greater London, Benson in Oxfordshire, Brooms Barn in Suffolk, High Beech in Essex, Kew Gardens in London, Northolt in London, Santon Downham in Suffolk and Writtle in Essex.

Wales and Northern Ireland also reached 2026 record temperatures of 27.4C in Cardiff and 23.4C in Armagh on Sunday.

The UK’s warmest May night was recorded on Sunday when temperatures did not fall below 19.4C at Kenley Airfield, Surrey.

The month’s previous record was 18.9C in 1944. The heat is closer to what would be expected in late June and into July, Mr Dewhurst added.

Most of the UK is expected to have very hot, unbroken sunshine during the bank holiday.

Temperatures will widely reach the high 20Cs and low 30Cs, followed by a warm night.

The highest temperatures are expected in parts of the Midlands, East Anglia, London and Bristol.

Clouds are forecast in north-west Scotland but they will be cleared by outbreaks of rain, and some will drift across Northern Ireland and southern Scotland.

Northern Ireland and Scotland will have sunny spells too with temperatures potentially reaching 26C to 27C.

The heat is considered to be dangerous for some vulnerable groups including older adults as their bodies struggle to regulate temperature.

Age UK recommended staying inside during the hottest hours of the day, between 11am and 3pm, and having regular cold baths or showers.

And looking forward from Saturday 30 May - Monday 8 Jun: ‘The south of the UK is expected to be mainly fine and dry for the start of this period, with temperatures above normal.

‘It will be cloudier in the north with some rain at times, this heavy in places. Moving further into the period, conditions will likely become unsettled across the UK as a whole.

Atlantic weather systems will move in from the west bringing showers or longer spells of rain at times. The rain will likely be heaviest in parts of the west and northwest. Temperatures will probably be near normal overall’.

And from Monday 8 Jun - Monday 22 Jun the Met Office says: ‘Probably changeable or unsettled at first with Atlantic frontal systems bringing showers or longer spells of rain at times.

‘From mid-month, high pressure may begin to become more dominant with conditions becoming dry and more settled, although some showery interludes are still possible.

‘Temperatures are expected to be near normal at first, but probably rising above average later’.