Kilkenny retains national maximum temperature record - just about!
A maximum temperature of 33C was recorded at the Phoenix Park in Dublin on Monday.
This was just 0.3C cooler than the all-time high of 33.3C which was recorded at Kilkenny Castle on June 26, 1887.
The Phoenix Park temperature on Monday marks the highest recorded in the 21st century, overtaking 32.3C in Elphin, Co Roscommon on July 19, 2006.
It was also higher than any temperature recorded in the 20th century, and the highest temperature ever recorded in the capital, according to Met Eireann data.
“This is only 0.3C below the all-time 135-year-old record set at Kilkenny Castle in 1887,” Met Eireann confirmed.
Well-known Kilkenny weatherman Niall Dollard predicts that even if the national record doesn’t fall during the current heatwave, that it will be broken within the next 5 to 10 years.
He says weather modelling also predicts less rainfall with drier spring and summers for the South East region, more flooding and an increased probability of storms and hurricanes reaching Ireland off the Atlantic.