Met Office warns that 'intense thunderstorms are on the way' after May heatwave breaks records in Northern Ireland
After temperatures hit 24.4 °C yesterday in parts of Northern Ireland Met Office meteorologists can reveal that ‘intense thunderstorms are on the way with low pressure brewing in the Atlantic’.
After some ‘truly historic May weather and exceptional heat across the UK’ Met Office meteorologist Aidan McGivern says that ‘normal service resumes as June begins’.
‘After another few hot days, a gradual cooling trend is expected by the start of June,’ he added.
Today, according to the Met Office Northern Ireland after being ‘mainly dry, sunny and warm’ today, this evening ‘will be mainly dry but the odd shower possible later on’.
Tomorrow (Thursday) will be ‘a mostly dry day with variable amounts of cloud and some bright or sunny spells’.
It will be warm but the ‘odd shower possible first thing, and again in the evening’.
There will be a maximum temperature of 23 °C.
And the outlook for Friday to Sunday is ‘cloudy start with the odd shower on Friday, then dry and brighter by afternoon’.
There will be a ‘cloudy on Saturday with outbreaks of rain’ but ‘mainly dry on Sunday’.
The news comes after several counties in Ireland have been put under a weather warning during a spell of high temperatures that have already surpassed May records.
Temperatures of 30.5C were recorded in provisional data on Tuesday, according to Met Eireann.
Clare, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Galway, Kilkenny, Laois and Offaly were put under a yellow warning between midday on Tuesday and 6pm on Wednesday.
Met Eireann said maximum temperatures would exceed 27C and night-time levels of above 15C could be expected.
It warned of water safety issues because of increased use of lakes and beaches, the possibility of forest fires, and uncomfortable sleeping conditions as well as heat stress.
Met Eireann said its station at Shannon Airport in Co Clare logged a May highest temperature of 28.6C on Monday, surpassing a 1997 record of 28.4C in Co Kerry.
On Tuesday, those levels appeared to be surpassed in the early data published by the forecaster.
Met Eireann’s station at Shannon Airport reported 30.5C at 3pm, provisionally a new record.
Higher temperatures were recorded in unofficial provisional observations at Met Eireann’s automatic climate stations (ACS) on both days, with Clonmel ACS recording 30.7C at 2pm on Tuesday – although these figures can take longer to verify.
The forecasting agency said the hot weather would continue into Wednesday with top temperatures of 22C to 31C, hottest in the Midwest and West.
In Northern Ireland, the highest maximum temperature on Monday of 25.8C was recorded at Derrylin, Cornahoule.
And looking forward the Met Office Northern Ireland says that Monday 1 Jun - Wednesday 10 Jun will be ‘a changeable period, as a sequence of Atlantic weather systems move in from the west to bring a mixture of drier spells and some showers or longer spells of rain at times.
‘The best of the drier conditions are more likely towards the south and east, with the rain generally more frequent in parts of the west and northwest, although there will be drier interludes here also.
‘Temperatures will be near-normal overall, with the warmest spots most likely across eastern areas. It will also be breezy at times, most especially across northwestern areas’.