Northern Ireland weather: Ulster to sizzle in temperatures of at least 26 °C today in 'summer heatwave'
Temperatures rose to 25.3 °C yesterday in Castlederg whilst the sunniest place in Northern Ireland was Magilligan lasting for 4.4 hours, according to Extremes for Northern Ireland from the Met Office.
The news comes as the data also relays that the lowest maximum temperature was recorded yesterday in Helen’s Bay at 18.5 °C.
Meanwhile, the Met Office Northern Ireland says today will be ‘very warm with sunny spells’.
“It will be a dry day with some good sunny spells in the morning before patches of cloud build up for a time,” says the Met Office.
It adds that it will be “very warm” with a “maximum temperature 26 °C”.
And tonight will be “a dry, warm and bright evening with some hazy sunny periods”.
It will be “cloudier along the north coast, the cloud extending to all areas through the night” with a minimum temperature of 14 °C.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) will be “another warm or very warm day with sunny spells” with “most places remaining however there is the risk of a few afternoon showers in the west”.
There will be a maximum temperature 24 °C.
And the outlook for Thursday to Saturday is that it will be “hot on Thursday but with the risk of heavy and thundery outbreaks of rain later in the day and into Friday”.
Forecasters say it will be “fresher by Saturday but risk of showers”.
The news comes as the Met Office warn a “heat-dome” settling over western Europe could bring temperatures of up to 40C in some parts of England and Wales in the middle part of the week.
Temperatures for the latest heatwave are likely to overtake the June record set in Hampshire in 1976 by several degrees and could come close to the UK’s all-time high of 40.3C which was measured in July 2022.
The hot conditions, which have been very rare in the UK until now, will be accompanied by high humidity and very warm nights, which will make it hard for people to recover overnight, the forecaster warned.
A red weather warning for extreme heat covering an area stretching from London to Swansea and Somerset to Birmingham was issued by the Met Office from 9am on Wednesday to 9pm on Thursday.
These are reserved for the most severe events, the Met Office said, meaning this heatwave is expected to bring “severe and significant impacts” including widespread health risks for many, not just those who are normally more vulnerable to the heat, and even danger to life.
Scores of schools across England and Wales announced they would close or finish early later this week to protect pupils amid the extreme heat.